This afternoon, the network of seven of the most influential European documentary festivals, Doc Alliance, announced the winners of the 14th edition of the Doc Alliance Awards during the Doc Day Lunch at the Cannes Marché du Film (6-15 July). The winners receive a total of €8,000, intended for the directors to spend on their next projects (€5,000 for the Best Feature Film and €3,000 for the Best Short Film). The winning titles will be available on Doc Alliance’s platform, DAFilms.com, until 18 July.

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The Doc Alliance Award for Best Feature Film went to The Blunder of Love by Rocco Di Mento, nominated by DOK Leipzig and produced by Valeria Venturelli at the German Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. Through old 8 mm home movies, an unpublished novel, various love letters and a whole host of long-suppressed feelings, the documentarian sets out to explore the myth of his grandparents’ romance and tries to honour his late grandfather on film, assisted by all of the surviving relatives. The jury stated that the film “is made with a charming curiosity that evolves into a genuine deconstruction of myth and a discreet revelation of family secrets and trauma, and how they are passed on from generation to generation”.

Meanwhile, the brand-new Doc Alliance Award for Best Short Film went to Bless You!, helmed by Tatiana Chistova and nominated by Millennium Docs Against Gravity. Against the backdrop of Saint Petersburg’s courtyards during the COVID-19 lockdown, the film fuses recordings of the almost-empty city and calls to a designated municipal hotline intended for the elderly, after the government imposed a strict around-the-clock curfew on them. Bless You! was produced by Maciek Hamela for Impakt Film, whilst its sales are being handled by Berlin-based outfit Magnetfilm. According to the jury, the short “captures the feeling of anxiety, isolation, boredom and confusion in the pandemic, and finds a very simple, but powerful and honest way to do it”.

For these awards, each partner festival nominated one feature and, for the first time this year, one short made by an emerging filmmaker from their most recent line-up.

The winners were chosen by a jury of seven film critics, also selected by the partner festivals. This year’s jury members were Kristoffer Hegnsvad (CPH:DOX), Vasco Câmara (Doclisboa), Carolin Weidner (DOK Leipzig), Sandra Onana (FIDMarseille), Pavel Sladký (Ji.hlava IDFF), Simone Späni (Visions du Réel) and Cineuropa’s own Ola Salwa (Millennium Docs Against Gravity).