AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT!
And the winners are....
Grand Prize : International Competition
The New Ruins
(Director : Manuel Embalse)
Statement from the Juries :
“Made in China, the world’s factory, now stands as both the origin and the burden-bearer of cosmic waste. From the lifeless debris forged by human hands, a living figure emerges—a poet. The traces of his survival, the weight of his being, are recovered on the far side of the earth. Artist-driven, instinctive, almost like performance art, the director revives this sorrow-laden inner world with solemn grace; the film casts a gaze that turns ruins into heritage.”
Jury Prize : International Competition
Taman-Taman/Park
(Director : So Yo-Hen)
Statement from the Juries :
“The filmmaker ingeniously appropriates a liminal space for listening, sharing, and feeling the human touch again. With such humble resources, it creates an immense cinematic experience that turns the questions back to us: how can we continue to build genuine relations without exploitation or efficiency as our measure? How can we keep making remarkable films without vast budgets? Carrying a laid-back energy that suddenly turns magical — weaving time, space, and the survival instincts of migrants far from home — this film shows us that it is possible.”
Grand Prize: Thai Competition
Au Revoir Siam
(Director : Domenico Singha Pedroli)
Statement from the Juries :
“This film presents intersected layers within the history of Thailand and France, inviting the audience to engage with the pain of of the past and present, as well as contemporary Thai politics through the lense of Thai political exiles in France, that are silenced and rather forgotten by the Thai government. Through creative approach in experimental documentary film, it shows us the hopes and dreams of the exiles by challenging convention of interpretation and expanding new aesthetic possibilities of cinematic experience.”
Jury Prize: Thai Competition
Home and Away
(Director : Rachata Thongruay)
Statement from the Juries :
“This film invites us to explore the life of displaced woman, delving into the stereotypes of “Mea-Farang” or “foreigner’s wife”, who are often seen as women leeching of their husband for living, as well as abandoning their roots and homeland. Yet, the exploration is done without demoralizing or casting blames on them. At the same time, it quietly portrays the isolation and loneliness of the elderly Mae-Farang, ultimately illustrating the struggles of women, both in their working years and in old age, who must navigate their life in a place far from home.”
Special Prize : Women Directors Award
As a Bird that Briefly Perches
(Director : Dorothy Cheung)
Statement from the Juries :
“Weaving a deeply poetic and symbolic narrative, this essay film embarks on a contemplative journey that is also a cinematic treatise on the human condition. It interrogates the tensions between displacement and rootedness, exile and homecoming, meditating on our innate search for belonging and grounding within a world in flux. Through its rich symbolic language of the natural world, the film becomes an unassuming cinematic light, guiding us in our search for the meaning of existence in the contemporary world.”
Special Prize : Green Doc Award
The New Ruins
(Director : Manuel Embalse)
Statement from the Juries :
“This documentary film presents the story from the past, the present and questions the context of the future that is to come. Through forgotten items, memories, written texts and the mix of old and new footage, it invites the audience to contemplate on society, capitalism and the transition to the new era. Marking this documentary film a great memoir of humanity’s traces.”
Special Prize : Favorite Review Award
อธิษฐาน จันทร์กลม
We would like to thank our 8 film critics who enthusiastically contributed reviews of films and festival activities throughout What the Doc!:
