The third AJB DOC closed on September 15th. Specifically for television documentaries, this Sarajevo-based festival is organized by Al Jazeera Balkans.
Many documentaries were screened online, among them Molly Stuart’s Objector, selected for the 2020 PriMed in the Mediterranean Issues category. This feature-length film won the main AJB DOC award.
Special mention was given to Caught in the Net by Vít Klusák and Barbora Chalupová (Czech Republic / Slovakia). Premiered at Prague’s One World festival, this film reveals the widespread threat of online child abuse.
The award for Best Film went to Bosnian film-maker Nerminka Erić for her short film Neighbors. Having themselves experienced the horrors of war, the people of eastern Bosnia and Serbia are now witnessing the wave of war-refugees arriving in Europe.
Finally, the Jury Prize was awarded to Bosnian director Dino Mustafić for his documentary Transforming Tomorrow, about the operations of the multinational ArcelorMittal Steel in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During AJB DOC there was also a training workshop: “Mobile Phone Documentary Film-making”. Hosted by Tunisian journalist and television producer Adnen Chaouachi, the workshop was to show film students, journalists and producers different ways of making documentaries, particularly using a mobile phone. The twenty participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Israel now have a month to develop ideas for a smartphone documentary. Adnen Chaouachi and the Al Jazeera Balkans team will then select the best project. The winner will receive €1,500, a Samsung Note 20 Ultra phone and mentoring support. The resulting film will be screened during the next AJB DOC.
Sources :
https://www.aa.com.tr
https://www.ajbdoc.ba
http://balkans.aljazeera.net
