All awards and juries at DOCVILLE 2026.
Jury award for best International Documentary
Purchase award by VRT/Canvas.
This award is Academy Award Qualifying.
John Dower
United Kingdom
John Dower is one of the UK's leading documentary filmmakers. He recently won a BAFTA for the series Lockerbie and was also nominated for Best Director. His feature film Thrilla in Manila competed at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for a BAFTA and an Emmy, and won a Grierson and a Peabody Award. Bradley Wiggins – A Year in Yellow also earned him a BAFTA nomination.
In addition to sports documentaries, Dower makes distinctly humorous works, such as Live Forever and My Scientology Movie, which he made together with Louis Theroux. The latter became the most successful documentary at the British box office that year. His films combine sharp observation with a sense of humor.
Anne-Lore Vanderhallen
Belgium
Anne-Lore Vanderhallen studied Broadcasting at Millersville University (USA) and subsequently built a successful career in Flemish television. She worked for almost fourteen years as editor-in-chief at the production companies De Filistijnen and De Mensen, following an earlier period at VT4 (now Play). There, she made her mark on leading factual and human interest series such as Reizen Waes, Dieren in Nesten, and De Klas van Frieda — programs that have helped shape the Flemish television landscape.
Since 2020, she has been working at VRT, where she has held various positions. Today, she is Content Coordinator Factual and helps set the course for high-quality non-fiction.
Camille Ghekiere
Belgium
Camille Ghekiere is a Belgian documentary filmmaker who already dreamt about making films while studying history. She subsequently studied at RITCS, focusing on cinematography and directing. Her graduation film Newcomers (2022) won her the VAF Wildcard Documentary and several festival awards.
Her feature debut Les Dames Blanches (2024), co-produced by VRT CANVAS, premiered at Film Fest Gent and also resonated within the healthcare sector outside the festival circuit. In addition, she collaborated with Charlotte De Cort on Coral City (2024), which originated from DOCVILLE's Science Pitch, where scientists and filmmakers join forces to create (short) science documentaries. She is currently working on her new project Romería Z.
Jury award for best Belgian Documentary
Cash award of 2.000 euro, donated by SABAM.
Joyce Palmers
Belgium
Joyce Palmers is coordinator and head of film programming at De Cinema in Antwerp. She has extensive experience in European cooperation from her previous position as Head of the Culture and Media Desk Flanders and through assignments within the VAF's talent development program. She has also worked as a development strategist, freelance producer, and impact producer.
Joyce holds a master's degree in Chinese Language and Culture and began her career as a teenager in the cinema, including as a 35mm projectionist. She has worked for various Belgian film festivals in programming, audience development, and production. Today, she is a director at the NONA arts center and a member of the General Assembly of CINEA.
Charissa Dechène
The Netherlands
Charissa Dechène is a non-fiction buyer for the Dutch Public Broadcasting (NPO). She holds a master's degree in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, specializing in media and visual culture, gender, and sexuality.
Since 2023, she has been working as a documentary buyer and travels to film festivals and fairs for her work. Prior to that, she spent seven years as a reviewer and journalist for the VARA guide and worked as a project leader and researcher in the field of diversity and inclusion.
Charel Muller
Luxembourg
Charel Muller is an experienced film programmer within the European festival circuit. Since 2024, he has been a member of the programming committee of the Luxembourg City Film Festival, where he is responsible for the selection of the Documentary Competition, Late Night Bizarre, and Made In/With Luxembourg. Previously, he worked there for four years as a program advisor, scouting films for the festival.
For more than seven years, Muller has also been involved with the Dutch festival Pluk de Nacht, where he is responsible for scouting and selecting films. His work has given him a broad and up-to-date view of the international (documentary) film landscape.
Jury award for best for best TOPICS Documentary
Cash award for the winning director valued at 1.000 euro, donated by DOCVILLE.
Frits Buijs
The Netherlands
Frits Buijs is a journalist, editor, producer and sound engineer. He is also co-owner of Eendracht Films in Den Bosch and has worked on documentaries such as Enkeltje Hemel. He's a film programmer at the Dutch Beholders Documentary Festival and acts as a moderator. Beholders focuses not on premieres, but on dialogue between filmmakers and the audience. In addition, he has published articles on topics including specialised education, mobility and sustainable development.
Reinhilde Weyns
Belgium
Reinhilde Weyns is the former director of the RITCS School of Arts until October 2025 and, prior to that, held various senior management positions at the VRT, including Network Manager at Canvas. She also served on the VAF committees for many years.
She was recently appointed as the new chair of the Flemish UNESCO Commission. In addition, she has gained extensive experience in cultural management, communication and governance, including as a member of the board of directors of Cinematek, Cinema Palace, Mooov festival, Cultuurloket, Huis van het Nederlands and the Fund for Cultural Management.
Jimmy Hendrickx
Belgium
Jimmy Hendrickx is a documentary filmmaker with a keen eye for culture, ecology, and social dynamics on the margins of society. He earned a Master of Arts in 3D Multimedia Design – Video Art & Experimental Cinema and taught film and audiovisual media for many years at the School of Arts (KASK) in Ghent. He then traveled through Southeast Asia in search of stories that transcend traditional boundaries.
His short film Semalu (2013), shot with local Malaysian children on an abandoned construction site, won several international awards and was screened at numerous festivals. With A Punk Daydream (Lamunan Oi!, 2019), he made his first feature-length documentary, about Indonesian punk culture, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and subsequently toured international festivals.
Jury award for best ScienceVille documentaire
Cash award for best director of 1.000 euro, donated by DOCVILLE.
Neal Heartman
United States
Neal Heartman is an engineer, curator, and bridge builder between art and science. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, he has been working for more than twenty years at CERN in Geneva, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, the world's largest laboratory for particle physics.
In 2007, he founded CineGlobe, CERN's international film festival that focuses on cinema around science and technology. He was director of production for TEDxCERN, involved in TED Global Geneva, and co-founder of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF). Since 2020, he has been director of Science Gallery Venice. With training in both engineering and film directing, Hartman naturally moves at the intersection of these two fields.
Katleen Gabriels
Belgium
Katleen Gabriels is a moral and technology philosopher and works as an associate professor at Maastricht University. In 2014, she obtained a PhD in Philosophy and Moral Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where she worked as a postdoctoral researcher from 2014 to 2017.
She specializes in the ethical and philosophical aspects of new technologies, such as AI and XR (extended reality). Gabriels is the author of Onlife (2016), Rules for Robots (2019), and Conscientious AI (2020), which have been awarded and nominated for various philosophy prizes. She has extensive experience in science communication and regularly appears in national and international media. As a former member of the Maastricht Young Academy, she organized film screenings at the Lumière cinema. She once studied film directing at KASK, but dropped out in her second year — a film school dropout with a lasting love for the big screen.
Maria Stuut
The Netherlands
Maria Stuut is a Dutch multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker with a scientific background. She studied Natural and Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and Autonomous Design at KASK in Ghent. This combination of natural and social sciences with an autonomous art practice is reflected in the films she makes.
Together with her brother Frederik Stuut, she has made several short films and documentaries, including Ebb (2020), the award-winning Meeuwen Schreeuwen in het Weekend (2022) and De dag dat het zonlicht niet meer scheen (2025), which originated from DOCVILLE's Science Pitch. She works with various disciplines and her work can be seen at theater festivals, art exhibitions, punk concerts, and film festivals.
Nationale Loterij Audience Award
Cash Award the the winning director of 1.000 euro, donaed by Nationale Loterij.
All recent, non-Belgian feature-length films programmed at DOCVILLE (excluding the guest programmes) are eligible. The award is presented a few days after the end of the festival.