The jury of the Main Competition of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in Bydgoszcz consisting of: Justyna Mazur, Emilia Walczak, and Mateusz Buława, having familiarized themselves with 13 competition entries, decided to give the Bydgoszcz ART.DOC Award of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival and its accompanying EUR 1500 to… Tamara Kotevska and Lyubomir Stefanov for the film “Honeyland”! The film had earlier received the Silesian Grand Prix – the Award of the Marshall of the Silesian Voivodeship, and the festival’s top honor – the Bank Millennium Award.
The jury justified their verdict thusly:
Tamara Kotevska and Lyubomir Stefanov have created a small masterpiece of documentary filmmaking in which incredibly beautiful images go hand in hand with a deftly constructed narrative which includes several emotional plot twists, and a simple yet magnificent story. The film touches on the very core of our, human, existence in the age of anthropocentrism: we are all being doomed by our greed towards nature which leads to the degradation of the natural environment and upsets the planet’s balance. This greed is represented in “Honeyland” by a money-grubbing merchant who personalizes capitalism, evil, and stupidity. We are being doomed by our egoistical, self-serving disregard for everyone and everything. But this poetic film also shows an alternative scenario: how things could be if we lived in harmony with the world around us, treating it fairly. This socially aware artistic film has already received the main award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival – and now it receives the Bydgoszcz ART.DOC Award. Now we know why Winnie the Pooh loved honey so much!
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The jury also decided to award two Special Mentions: to “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” by Mads Brügger and “Srbenka” by Nebojša Slijepčevic, which both remind us that regardless of where they are in the world, people are ready to inflict terrible horrors upon others, and that the urge to trample freedom and the rights of other people will never go away.
But these are not all the awards given out during the Warsaw edition of the 16th Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival. Like every year, the audience of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival will select its favorite film and give it the audience award, also known as the Warsaw Documentary Award. The accompanying prize of EUR 2000 was funded by the City of Warsaw. All the films shown during the Festival are eligible to win. Every moviegoer can vote, becoming a juror of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival!
On 23 May, in Gdynia, the Award of the President of the City of Gdynia and its accompanying prize of PLN 15 000 will be awarded. On the same day, we will learn the results of the “Co Jest Grane 24” Competition, as decided by audiences in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Lublin, and Katowice, as they select their favorite film from among 12 titles dealing with various pop cultural phenomena, but also more serious topics. The winner will receive a trophy and EUR 1000.
