DOXA 2013 Award Winners Announced

The 2013 DOXA Documentary Film Festival concluded with a gala event which included the announcement of the 2013 Award winners.

Winners include:

The Short Documentary Award was given to 18 kg, Kacper Czubak’s moving portrait of a little boy battling HIV with the love and support of the nuns who operate the Kasisi orphanage in Zambia. Jury members Jill Sharpe, David C. Jones and Harry Killas stated: “Although the story of AIDS in Africa has been depicted many times on screen, this film's focus on an abandoned boy and the Sister who cares for him puts an intimate and authentic lens on an oft-told story… the film deals with large themes of faith, terminal illness and desperation but always stays centered in the heart.”

The Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary (presented by William F White) was awarded to Antoine Bourges’ East Hastings Pharmacy. Jury members John Bolton, Curtis Woloschuk, and Michelle Bjornson stated: “Against an austere backdrop, East Hastings Pharmacy transforms the methodical routine of methadone dispensing into the mechanics of gripping drama. And by its conclusion, this extraordinary work requires us to confront the expectations we have of documentaries and question the demands we make of filmmakers.”

The Feature Documentary Award was given to Dylan Mohan Gray’s stunning work Fire in the Blood. Jury members Leonard Schein, Sheila Peacock and Sheona McDonald awarded the film on the basis of its strength not only as a piece of cinematic art but as a call to action. Dylan Mohan Gray’s response to the award stated: “I have been deeply moved by the messages and feedback I have received from numerous friends and strangers in Vancouver, even before winning this prize, and it is an absolutely thrill to know that our film has touched such a nerve there...The characters of Fire in the Blood are living proof that it is possible to do the unthinkable, to take on the most powerful governments and corporations on the planet, and – if the cause is just – to change the world.” 

The inaugural Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming was awarded by Youth Jury members Nora Kelly, Jacob Saltzburg, Steven Hawkins and Alysha Seriani to Jeanie Finlay’s film The Great Hip Hop Hoax. Director Jeanie Finlay, reached in England, said of the award. “I am utterly gobsmacked, thrilled and thankful... Doxa is a very special festival and it was wonderful to share my film with the warm Vancouver audience earlier this week. To unexpectedly win this award is the icing on the cake.”

DOXA is presented by The Documentary Media Society, a Vancouver-based non-profit, charitable society.

For more information about DOXA, visit http://www.doxafestival.ca/