SHAPE OF THE MOON wins IDFA 2004

The VPRO Joris Ivens Award 2004 for best long documentary goes to Leonard Retel Helmrich for his documentary SHAPE OF THE MOON (the Netherlands, 2004). The Award was presented on Friday, 26 November, by the chair of the jury, Pirjo Honkasalo and consists of €12,500.

The Joris Ivens jury also decided to grant the Special Jury Award to: LIBERIA: AN UNCIVIL WAR by Jonathan Stack and James Brabazon (USA, 2004).

The Silver Wolf, the award for the best short documentary, goes to GEORGI AND THE BUTTERFLIES by Andrey Paounov (Bulgaria, 2004). The Silver Wolf was made available by the Netherlands Programme Service (NPS) and consists of €10,000 and a stamp. In addition, the NPS will also broadcast the winnaar in its Het uur van de Wolf programme.

The First Appearance Award, for the best debut, goes to PODUL PESTE TISA by Ileana Stanculescu (Romania, 2004). The First Appearance Award consists of a certificate and € 2,500.

From the ten films competing for the Amnesty International - DOEN Award, the jury, chaired by Hans Thoolen, chose THE 3 ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA by Pirjo Honkasalo (Finland, 2004). The award consists of € 5,000 and theatrical release in the Netherlands.

The Audience Award goes to THE YES MEN by Dan Ollman, Sarah Price and Chris Smith (USA, 2003). The Audience Award consists of €4,500 euros and is organised by the Alter Ego Foundation.

The first ever DOC U! Award, the award for the best young people's film at IDFA, was presented to NABILA by Hakan Berthas and Johan Bjerkner (Sweden, 2003). IDFA selected seven films from the programme in cooperation with Cultonline.nl and XXXS, and these were assessed by a jury made up of young people.

The seventeenth IDFA expects a slight increase in the number of visitors compared to 2003. If the trend set last week continues into this weekend, the number of tickets sold will rise from 116,000 in 2003 to 120,000 this year. The net box-office receipts will increase from € 385,000 to € 400.000. This year, 2,300 professionals attended IDFA as guests. In 2003, this figure was 1,900.

JURY REPORTS