Awards DOCVILLE 2025
The 21st edition of DOCVILLE had a rocky start, but after the controversy, it mainly surprised audiences with a series of new and well-received concepts. The first series of VRT CANVAS Talks, Space Day and RockVille; the audience found its way almost immediately. Big crowd-pleasers this year included Mr Nobody Against Putin, De Wilde Noordzee, The Governor and The Last Republican.
INTERNATIONAL JURY AWARD
Songs of Slow Burning Earth wins the International Jury Prize, automatically making it onto the Academy Awards' long list for Best Documentary.
The film offers an audiovisual diary of the past two years in Ukraine: the documentary makes it painfully clear how panic, outrage and horror caused by the Russian invasion slowly turns into the silence of ever-present death and destruction. Landscapes, casual conversations, encounters, testimonies and reflections, images and sounds floating in and out of the camera's frame, show how the ongoing war is causing - sometimes subtle - changes in every aspect of daily life.
TOPICS AWARD
In the Topics competition, Mr Nobody Against Putin clearly convinced the jury. The film wins the Topics Award. ‘This film is an extraordinary achievement in documentary storytelling,’ the jury said.
Pavel teaches at a Russian school, far away from urban Moscow. He portrays the daily propaganda that teachers have to convey to their students because of the government. At first glance, he is not the person you would spontaneously pick as a resistance hero daring to take on the all-powerful and merciless Vladimir Putin. And yet this particularly engaging teacher at a primary school in Russia dares to resist the encroaching nationalist propaganda in his own way.
The jury also had an honourable mention for An American Pastoral by Auberi Edler.
BELGIAN COMPETITION
In the Belgian Competition, the moving film Slave Island won the Jury Award, a staggering portrait of contemporary slavery on the island of Sumba in Indonesia.
While investigating human trafficking, local activist Jeremy Kewuan meets a shaman who strongly believes that he, through his ancestors, has a right to own slaves. In the midst of all this, an 8-year-old enslaved girl comes into the picture, who Jeremy wants to help escape at all costs. Belgian director Jimmy Hendrickx met Jeremy on a trip and never let him go: together they created a film that the jury describes as ‘an urgent call for social justice’ and ‘a perfect example of documentary filmmaking’.
An honourable mention goes to Camille Ghekiere, the young talented filmmaker that made Les Dames Blanches.
SCIENCEVILLE COMPETITION
Finally, the Award for Best Scientific Documentary goes to a film that moved the jury both visually and in terms of content. She praised its visual and narrative layering, describing it as a cinematically rich experience that effortlessly weaves together philosophical and scientific themes. Life and Other Problems by Max Kestner wins in the Best Scientific Documentary category. The film starts from the story of Marius, a young healthy giraffe who is killed in Copenhagen Zoo and fed to the lions, that event becomes the starting point of a series of existential questions.
The Jury also had a special mention for The Universe in a Grain of Sand by Mark Levinson.
NATIONALE LOTERIJ AUDIENCE AWARD
The Nationale Loterij Audience Award goes to Farahnaz Sharifi for her powerful and beautifully made My Stolen Planet. The director reacted with the following message: "Through this message, I want to send my warmest greetings and appreciation for this meaningful award. It is always heartwarming to receive an audience award. Dear voters, thank you so much for choosing my film. I made this film from the heart and I believe you received my message with your hearts as well. Thank you".
The Iranian director created a cinematic diary, in which she combines her own footage with home videos from strangers to create an alternative history of Iran. The film offers a unique insight into the story and struggles of contemporary Iranian women.
SUMMARY
JURY AWARD FOR BEST BELGIAN DOCUMENTARY
Slave Island by Jeremy Kewuan & Jimmy Hendrickx
€2.000 donated by Sabam for Culture
Jury: Ignas van Schaick, Håvard Bustnes & María Campaña Rami
JURY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY
Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba
VRT CANVAS buys the rights to broadcast the film. This award is Academy Award (TM) Qualifying.
Jury: Mark Levinson, Helmut Boeijen & Isabelle Tollenaere
TOPICS AWARD
Mr. Nobody Against Putin van David Borenstein & Pavel Ilyich Talankin
€1500 geschonken door DOCVILLE
Jury: An De Winter, Ketil Magnussen & Lode Desmet
BEST SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTARY
Life and Other Problems by Max Kestner
€1.000 awarded by DOCVILLE
Jury: Sandy Claes, Daisy van de Zande & Bram Crols
NATIONALE LOTERIJ AUDIENCE AWARD
My Stolen Planet by Farahnaz Sharifi
€1.000 awarded by the Nationale Loterij
Save the date: DOCVILLE 2026 takes place from 18 March to 26 March 2026.
JURY STATEMENTS
INTERNATIONALE COMPETITIE
This year’s line-up of films covered an impressive array of documentary styles: from pure verite, observational films to films that explicitly include the director of the film on-camera, to films that include reconstructed events. A repeated theme was the nature of truth - who is telling it, and who can you believe? The film that the jury has awarded the prize for Best International film is a film of unvarnished truth. It takes a subject that has been covered by a number of other filmmakers in recent years, but boldly presents an original perspective. Defying the expectations of a film about war, The Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba shows almost nothing of the physical destruction reigned on Ukraine by Russia, but reveals the deeper emotional and psychic toll on the everyday people who must struggle with the consequences. Shot in a verite style without narration, we see a bus driver transporting evacuees who sobs as he has to return again and again to destroyed towns to evacuate children. A bread baker desperately trying to bake as many loaves as possible to feed the displaced families. People lining country roads, for miles and miles, kneeling in respect as a military transport passes bearing deceased soldiers, chanting “heroes never die.” Unsensational in style, the film derives its power from the unsentimental revelation of the lives of people far from the battle front who also courageously engage in their own battle to navigate their new reality.
SCIENCEVILLE COMPETITIE
Honourable mention for The Universe in a Grain of Sand (Mark Levinson)
The choice was not easy, but after much consideration, the jury of the ScienceVille Competition decided to award an honourable mention to The Universe in a Grain of Sand by Mark Levinson. This documentary forms a surprising and compelling symbiosis between art and science, where both disciplines come together in an innovative way.
By carefully weaving selected fragments from abstract and experimental films into the scientific narrative, the film succeeds in creating a visually innovative narrative. These fragments do not serve merely as illustrative material, but form a self-contained layer of visual storytelling. As a result, the film transcends the traditional didactic character and invites the viewer to a deeper reflection on the poetic power of science.
The thorough research and loving composition of these cinematic elements testify to a deep respect and understanding of both experimental filmmaking and the scientific themes being explored. It is a daring move to intertwine art and science in this way, but The Universe in a Grain of Sand demonstrates that this is not only possible, but also leads to an enriching and inspiring viewing experience. With this honourable mention, the jury recognises the extraordinary achievement of creating a film that blurs the boundaries between disciplines and invites us to look at the world around us with new eyes.
Docville - Scienceville Award 2025 for Life and Other Problems (Max Kestner)
The jury of Docville 2025's ScienceVille Competition reviewed with great admiration the films that highlight science and society in a unique way. From this extraordinary selection, one film stood out for its exceptional balance between the maker’s personal world, current affairs and science.
What makes this film so impressive is the way it is visually and narratively layered. The documentary not only offers a cinematically rich experience, but also effortlessly weaves together philosophical and scientific themes. The result is an accessible film that challenges the viewer to reflect on the essence of life. The documentary ingeniously links the existential question ‘What is life?’ to a moral dimension. Through this ethical layer, the film not only arouses curiosity, but also encourages reflection on the meaning and implications of scientific progress. It is particularly clever how all these questions and themes are thoroughly developed and come together seamlessly. This ensures that the film forms a complete and satisfying whole.
Rather than imposing a single truth or vision, the film embraces the complexity of existence and the science it seeks to fathom. With guts and intellectual curiosity, the maker chooses to approach the mystery of life from different scientific perspectives, without the film becoming an ego document. But what makes this - unanimously chosen by the jury as the winning documentary film - perhaps most special is its enduring relevance. This is not a film that merely resonates in the cinema auditorium; the questions and insights continue to resonate, right up to the breakfast table the next morning and well beyond. It is a film you not only want to discuss, but to hold on to, to preserve the moment and the thoughts it evokes. With all these qualities, Life and Other Problems is a convincing winner of the ScienceVille Competition 2025. We congratulate Max Kestner on this wonderful and inspiring documentary.
BELGISCHE COMPETITIE
By shedding light on the heartbreaking truth—children sold, beaten, and denied education—the filmmakers reveal a harrowing practice that many would believe belongs only to the distant past. Yet the film goes beyond shock value, unearthing the cultural and spiritual justifications—personified by Mr. Lucky and a Maramba shaman—that continue to perpetuate these atrocities under the guise of divine will. The films sweeping drone shots of Sumba’s stunning landscapes contrast sharply with the grim subject matter, while Raquel Ferreira’s and Hendrickx’s thoughtful editing seamlessly balances intimacy and splendor, heightening the film’s emotional core. Ultimately, it is the compelling narrative, centered on local activist Jeremy Kewuan’s courageous mission to rescue three enslaved children, that makes the film not just an urgent call for social justice but also a perfect example of Belgian documentary filmmaking—and therefore deserving of the top honors at Docville. For its uncompromising exploration of hereditary slavery in West Sumba, Indonesia, where vestiges of Maramba, Kabihu, and Ata social classes still shape everyday realities, the award for best Belgian Documentary goes to “Slave Island” by Jimmy Hendrickx and Jeremy Kewuan.
We willen graag een ‘honorable mention’ geven aan Camille Ghekiere als jonge talentvolle filmmaker met haar eerste feature Les Dames Blanches
TOPICS COMPETITIE
WINNER
The Docville Topics Award 2025 goes to a film that offers a rare and vital perspective on a society that has become increasingly inaccessible to the outside world. This remarkable documentary is both inspiring and deeply informative, crafted under extraordinarily difficult conditions and at significant personal risk. It provides a striking exposé of how propaganda operates in practice. At its core, the film follows a courageous teacher who refuses to comply with the Putin regime’s propaganda machine—an apparatus that seeks to transform schools into instruments of indoctrination and military recruitment. This film is an extraordinary achievement in documentary storytelling. It sheds light on a deeply troubling development in Russia, one that, disturbingly, resonates far beyond its borders. The Docville Topics Award for 2025 is presented to Mr. Nobody Against Putin by Pavel Talankin and David Borenstein.
HONORABLE MENTION
An honorable mention is awarded to a documentary that delves into the highly polarized political landscape of the United States of America. Without bias, the film examines both sides of a deeply contentious battle over the election of a new school board in a small Pennsylvania district. Through an immersive and thoughtful approach, the filmmakers offer us a rare and invaluable window into a local struggle that mirrors the larger ideological divisions threatening to tear the nation apart. The honourable mention goes to An American Pastoral by Auberi Edler.