The ceremony for the festival awards – the Golden and Silver Doves – was held on 2 November with a live audience at Leipzig’s Schaubühne Lindenfels. We congratulate all winners! 

International Competition Documentary Film

The Golden Dove Feature-Length Film in the International Competition went to Dominique Cabrera , our 2024 Homage guest, for “La Jetée, the Fifth Shot”. The 10,000-euro Golden Dove is sponsored by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.

The Silver Dove for the best feature-length documentary by an up-and-coming director, was awarded to Pierre Michel Jean for “Twice Into Oblivion”. The 6,000 euro award is sponsored by 3sat.

The Golden Dove Short Film, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to John Smith for “Being John Smith” (Great Britain).

The Silver Dove Short Film, which includes 1,500 euros for the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director, sponsored by the Sächsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien (Saxon State Institute for Private Broadcasting and New Media, SLM), went to “What Goes Up” by Samar Al Summary (Saudi-Arabia, USA).

International Competition Animated Film

In the International Competition Animated Film, the Golden Dove Feature-Length Film, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to László Csáki for “Pelikan Blue” (Hungary).

The Golden Dove Short Film in conjunction with 1,500 euros, sponsored by the Deutsches Institut für Animationsfilm e. V., was awarded to Anu-Laura Tuttelberg for “On Weary Wings Go By” (Estonia, Lithuania).

German Competition Documentary Film

The Golden Dove Feature-Length Film in the German Competition went to “Tarantism Revisited” by Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble (Germany, Switzerland). This 10,000-euro award is donated by Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel.

The Golden Dove Short Film, in conjunction with 1,500 euros, was awarded to Leonard Volkmer for “The King of Spain” (Germany).

Audience Competition

This year’s winner of the Golden Dove in the Audience Competition is selected by the jury members Linda Dombrowski, Maria Gallo, Sophie Görlipp, Maria Weiße and Anna Wulffert. They honoured Virpi Suutari for her documentary film “Once upon a Time in a Forest” (Finland). The Audience Award is endowed with 3,000 euros, granted pro rata by Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V..

See all winners, awards and read more about the juries here.