The 10th Taiwan International Documentary Festival Award Winners Announced

The 10th Taiwan International Documentary Festival Award Winners was announced tonight (5/12). The film Brothers which warmly depicts the childhood of two boys in a mother`s perspective won the Grand Prize of “International Competition”; the Iranian documentary Hero and the Cloak was awarded “Asian Vision Competition” Grand Prize; Le Moulin won the Grand Prize of “Taiwanese Competition”, whereas The Road and​ Wansei Painter - Tetsuomi Tateishi won the Grand Prize of “Chinese Documentary Award” and the “Audience Award” respectively.

Brothers is made by Norway Documentary film maker Aslaug HOLM. After becoming a mother, HOLM started to use her camera to record her two boys` growth, capturing the delicate yet strong relationship between mother and son. The jury holds a consensus that this close and personal documentary about is not only made with warmth and humor, but also depicts the meaning of existence and growing up with profound observation and self-reflection. The film was awarded Grand Prize by the TIDF jury.

Also made by female director, Maria RAMOS, who also won the grand prize in 2004 TIDF for her work Justice, was awarded the Merit Prize of “International competition” for her new film Drought. The film remains her consistent visual language that uses concise and calm shootings to delicately raise our awareness to the day to day drought problem in Brazil.

“Asian Vision Competition” encourages Asian documentaries that has an independent spirit, a vision of the filmmaker, and subject that contains both differences and commonalities between different cultures. In this section, Hero and the Cloak won the Grand Prize, while Cities of Sleep and Dogs, Farm Animals and Sashimi was awarded the Merit Prize and Jury`s Special Mention respectively.

Hero and the Cloak records a middle-aged man who carries a heroic dream and does street performance in order to find his ancestor`s cloak. While most of the Asian countries are bounded in a situation that does not allow people to express freely, the film uses a creative, humor method to escape the existing constraints. Film Director Arash LAHOOTI has also been nominated in “Asian Vision Competition” by the 9th TIDF. Winning the Grand Prize this year, he especially wants to thank his wife for her endless support.

The Merit Prize of “Asian Vision Competition” gave to Cities of Sleep. The film travels deep into the resting places of the homeless, showing not only the living situation of people from the bottom level, but also the dogfights between different powers and social classes. The Philippine film Of Cats, Dogs, Farm Animals and Sashimi received Jury`s Special Mention, recording the melancholic life of an out-of-school boy named Dondon who went to work in a rubber plantation due to poorness.

Le Moulin won the Grand Prize of “Taiwan Competition”. The film is the first feature documentary by director HUANG Ya-li, using various kinds of experimental methods such as remaking and representing to reconstruct the bright yet fleeting destiny of Taiwan’s first modern art group, Le Moulin Poetry Society. Le Moulin is highly praised by the jury for its accomplishment of expanding the infinitive possibility of documentary film. Jade Miners is a film made by Midi Z who focuses on the situation of the Burmese jade-mining Workers. The work was awarded “Taiwan Competition” Merit prize due to its honest and humble approach close to an ethnographic film, depicting the bitter and pain of the minorities under the structure of globalization.

“Chinese Documentary Award” gave The Road​ and The Mountain​ Grand Prize and Jury Special Prize respectively. The Road​ is the new work of ZHANG Zanbo which focuses on the living situation of workers, contractors, officials, gangsters, and villagers under the backdrop of a highway construction through a quiet village. The Road is a fable under the era of fast development, unveiling the struggle of the individuals as well as the twisted interest groups.​ The Mountain​ is young director SU Hung-en’s first feature documentary film. The work uses 16mm film to record his grandfather who lived most of his life in the tribal village, and further extends his vision towards the historical and cultural issues of the various ethnic groups as well as the whole island.   

“Next Generation Award” is a Jury consisted of 19 teenagers. The jury selected Cities of Sleep as the most representative piece for the young generation. “Author`s POV Award” went to Remote Control, and Wansei Painter - Tetsuomi Tateishi made by KUO Liang-yin、FUJITA Shuhei was popular among the viewers and was voted the “Audience Award”. 

This year, the jury of TIDF is consisted of international and Taiwanese documentary workers, including South Korean director KIM Dong-won, Iraqi-French director Abbas FAHDEL, director of Visions du Réel Luciano BARISONE, programme director of In-Docs Amelia HAPSARI, programmer for CPH : DOX Mads MIKKELSEN, Chinese Director Zhao Liang, director of Jihlva International Documentary Film Festival Marek HOVORKA, Professor Jimmy CHOI from Hong Kong, writer Lung Ying-tai, and Ping-Lu, director of Taipei Film Festival KUO Ming-Jung, poet and film director Hung Hung, film directors CHEN Yu-ching, LIN Jing-Jie, WU Hsiu-ching, and jury of Next Generation Award consisting of 19 teenagers from 15 to 19 years old.  

10th TIDF Award-Winning List