At the world’s most prestigious documentary film festival – IDFA, the Armenian film was awarded two prizes. Director Shoghakat Vardanyan’s film “1489” was recognized as the “Best Film” at the International competition of the festival. In addition, the film won the FIPRESCI Award.
The film revolves around the disappearance of the director’s 21-year-old brother, Soghomon Vardanyan, who went missing in the early days of the renewed fighting in 2020 between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Artsakh.
The award comes with a €15,000 cash prize. The jury members of the International Competition were Emilie Bujès, Francesco Giai Via, Tabitha Jackson, Ada Solomon, and Xiaoshuai Wang. The FIPRESCI Award jury members were Senem Aytaç, Irina Codrea-Trocan, Carolin Weidner.
Jurors called “1489”, “A film that acts as a piercing light that makes visible the vast hidden interior landscape of grief and creates a tangible presence from unbearable absence. Cinema as a tool of survival—to allow us all, to look at the things we would rather not see. And ultimately, an unforgettable example of cinema as an act of love.”
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world’s largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. The objective of the IDFA is to promote creative documentaries and to present them to as wide an audience as possible.
