El lugar más pequeno (The Tiniest Place) by

Tatiana Huezo (Mexiko)

The film starts out slowly and, using elegant cinematic techniques, builds its dramatic trajectory in small increments. read more

Argentyńska lekcja (Argentinean Lesson) by

Wojciech Staroń (Poland)

This cinematic journey follows the filmmaker's 8-year-old son from Poland to Argentina as he becomes acclimated to his new home and develops a friendship with a young girl that is both joyous and sorrowful. read more

Water Children by

Aliona van der Horst (Netherlands)

This is a finely composed auteurist documentary that combines several complex elements. It is a portrait of a Japanese pianist who is also an innovative visual artist. read more

Louisa von

Katharina Pethke (Germany)

LOUISA tells a surprising story of a sensuous emancipation. The deaf protagonist is by no means depicted suffering from her every-day conflict caused by the inconveniences of her disability, ...read more

Hatzalmania (Life in Stills) by

Tamar Tal (Israel)

This is an intimate film that celebrates the individual in all his richness  and complexity . Director Tamal manages to share the most beautiful moments ... read more

Bakhmaro by

Salomé Jashi (Germany, Georgia)

In her film „Bakhmaro", Salomé Jashi succeeds in turning a single building in a Georgian City into a strong metaphor for the current state of the country.

read more

Phnom Penh Lullaby by

Pawel Kloc (Poland)

This intense film accompanies an unequal couple on the fringe of Cambodia's society in a striking and feverishly nervous way. It offers a few certainties only, but rather guides us in an area of a mysterious foreboding. read more

Kirkcaldy Man

by Julian Schwanitz (UK)

„Kirkcaldy Man" has succeeded, in a unique way, in creating the portrait of a man whom we are not going to see. The filmmaker cannot meet his hero, the former Darts champion Jocky Wilson, ...  read more

Ja zabudu etot den’ (I Will Forget This Day) by

Alina Rudnickaja (Russia)

A simplistic and unusual approach to the topic of abortion.

By using a mirroring structure within the film, the director leaves the judgement to the viewer, ... read more

The Making of Longbird by

Will Anderson (UK)

It is our very great pleasure to award the Golden Dove of the International Competition Animated Film to a filmmaker who so brilliantly revived a long forgotten Russian animation star. read more

Blue Red by

Daniela Krajčová (Slovakia)

The Silver Dove of the International Competition Animated Film goes to one of the films that touched us most: ... read more

Heldenkanzler by

Benjamin Swiczinsky (Germany)

and

Ast mit Last by

Falk Schuster (Germany)

read more

Muybridge’s Strings by

Koji Yamamura (Canada)

We wish to honour master artist Koji Yamamura for his exquisite philosophical meditation on time and our attempts to capture it.  read more

Keha mälu (Body Memory) by

Ülo Pikkov (Estonia)

Using a unique personal style this film takes a man's story and tells it from a woman's perspective. read more

Work Hard – Play Hard by

Carmen Losmann (Germany)

This seemingly innocuous film takes us on an unexpected journey. Deftly crafted, it is thought-provoking, and inspires us to discuss one of the most important issues of our time – the individuality and personality of today's workforce. read more

Fragments d’une révolution (Fragments of a Revolution) by

anonymous (France)

The Jury awards the prize to the film „Fragments of a Revolution" of the production firm Mille et une Films of Gilles Padovani. The film takes us close to the events around the Green Revolution in Iran in the summer of 2009.  read more

Ja zabudu etot den’ (I Will Forget This Day) by

Alina Rudnickaja (Russia)

Alina Rudnickaja has succeeded in dissecting a short and touching moment in the life of many women. Actually, the decision has long been taken, when the camera describes their frozen faces in the waiting room outside the operating theatre. read more

Generation Kunduz – Das Leben der Anderen (Generation Kunduz – The War of the Others) by

Martin Gerner (Germany)

The Sponsoring Prize of the DEFA Foundation which is endowed with 4 000 Euro has been awarded at this year's 54th Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film to Martin Gerner for his film "Generation Kunduz – The War of the Others". read more

Peak by

Hannes Lang (Germany, Italy)

The Goethe Institute awards its 2011 Documentary Film Prize to the film "Peak" by Hannes Lang. The film distinguishes itself by its overwhelming picture language that finds its adequate aesthetic expression in the CinemaScope format. read more

El lugar más pequeno (The Tiniest Place) by

Tatiana Huezo (Mexico)

This film develops slowly, but with an emotional vehemence. It unfolds into a quiet requiem, in which the heroes of the film remember with sadness, but without any aggression – and radiate a passionate joy of life. read more

Work Hard – Play Hard by

Carmen Losmann (Germany)

The film shows with a sober camera a mirror-image of today's working world, in which man degrades into a pure resource, in a denaturized space. read more

Work Hard – Play Hard by

Carmen Losmann (Germany)

For utilising different cinematic techniques with skill in telling an alternately sobering and terrifying tale of dystopian workplaces...read more

Sydämeni Taakka (Burden of My Heart) by

Iris Olsson and Ives Niyongabo (Finland)

16 years after the genocide on Tutsi population by the Hutu, the Rwandan society is still in the painful process of coming to terms with the terrible events in the past, when some 800 000 people had to die in only 100 days. read more

The Making of Longbird by

Will Anderson (UK)

Flamingo Pride by

Tomer Eshed (Germany)