Doc Launch
The Golden Funnel Award is annually given to a project which makes the most dramatic improvements over the course of the East European Forum workshop. Projects are evaluated by the workshop tutors. The exact shape and form of the Award is decided on the basis of the awarded project and tailored to the specific needs of the filmmakers. Our support may take the shape of a two-day editing session with a renowned editor, participation at a selected documentary event or any other forms of assistance that are deemed beneficial.
In previous years, the following projects were awarded the Golden Funnel Award:
2011
Bells of Happiness
Director: Bučka Jana, Šulík Marek
Producer: Belišová Jana, Pekarčík Palo
Production company: Zudro
Zvonky šťastie , Slovak Republic, 80 min, 35 mm, Creative, Drama doc
Perhaps the film is best described as a ‘documentary happening’. We see a group of Roma people watching the film “Gypsies Go to Heaven’ in Dolina, a small Roma settlement in Slovakia. Inspired by the film, they decide to create their own theatre play, which would reflect their lives. They rehearse in real locations, at home and in different places within their living environment. The characters from the movie are replaced by authentic inhabitants of the village. They want to show situations that they are afraid of. They have fear of death, pain and Gadjos and they are afraid of the world outside of their village. They want to invite Gadjos from the neighbouring villages to watch the play. The Roma people with the help from the film crew have to tackle small tasks. With the small cameras they record their own life and situations which cause them fear. The film will be a fluid image of a wild organism that grows in its own unforeseeable ways.Where is the border between illusion and reality. How can Roma people overcome their fear and escape the cycle of the outsiders’ life that they live in their village.
2010
Dust Dream
Director: Gorski Maciej
Producer: Braid Monika
Production company: Braidmade Films Ltd, eastart pictures
Dust Dream , Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, 60 min, Digi Beta, Adventure and Sports
Charismatic coach Jagdish Singh and his boxing protégées have garnered success and awards, including the first Olympic medal for India, placing the dusty Indian city of Bhiwani firmly on the international sporting map. Yet controversial training methods remain under scrutiny by suspicious sports authorities with Coach Jagdish excluded from key champion fights. Dust Dream charts Jagdish’s fight for official recognition alongside the personal journey of three of his students – including one of the first female Indian recruits – as they dedicate their lives to the demanding regime of the Bhiwani Boxing Club and the promise of a better future. As Jagdish Singh prepares his boxers to compete at London 2012, he is simultaneously fighting for the recognition of his own name and that of his boxing club.
2009
The Field of Magic
Director: Survila Mindaugas
Producer: Beinoriute Giedre, Gluskinienė Jurga
Production company: Monoklis
Stebuklų laukas , Lithuania, 2011, 62 min, DCP, Human Rights, Personal View, Social Issues, Society
The Field of Magic is a docu-poem about people living for over two decades in Buda forest near the closed down Kariotiškės dump, 40 km from Vilnius, Lithuania. A result of four year's work, the film captures the perspective of the dump dwellers in telling the story of a dissolving community, its uniqueness, daily rhythm, peculiar way of life, every-day joys and sorrows.
2008
Tomorrow You Will Leave
Director: Nguyen Martin
Producer: T. Riahi Arash
Production company: Golden Girls Filmproduktion & Filmservices GmbH
Austria, 2011, 78 min, HD, Creative, Personal View, Portrait, Social Issues
The story of my Vietnamese father who was able to build up a new life in a small Austrian village, but there is still an open chapter in the past: the search for the man who once helped him.
2007
Chemo
Director: Lozinski Pawel
Producer: Lozinski Pawel
Production company: Paweł Łoziński Produkcja Filmów
Chemia , Poland, 2009, 58 min, Digi Beta, Health
Patients in an oncology clinic receive chemotherapy. Their faces can be seen in a close-up. They lie in pairs and hold fascinating conversations. Life seen from a different perspective, a distance offered by a hospital, reveals its value, sense and charm. Why so late?
Special mention:
Ramadan - Guide to Fame
Director: Neykova Svetla
Producer: Petkova Dobriana
Production company: Agitprop Ltd.
Bulgaria, Creative, Music
Have you ever heard Bulgarian folk music? In this documentary which main characters have dedicated their lives to bring this music through centuries you certainly will. This film will present the spiritual leader of this music style – the charming and extremely gifted clarinetist Ramadan Lolov. By following his ghost from early 20 th century fairs to the modern cities streets we will explore the strength of personal charisma and illusions.
2006
Elektro Moskva
Director: Spritzendorfer Dominik, Tikhonova Elena
Production company: Rotor Film, Golden Girls Filmproduktion & Filmservices GmbH
Austria, 80 min, HD, Arts and Culture, Creative, Docu drama, Music
What does Russia sound like? The fabled electronic synthesizers from the Soviet era, due to their unmistakable harsh sound and unreliable operation, tell innumerable curious stories about Lenin’s dream of electrifying Russia, the myth of progress, and, in contrast, the reality of everyday life.
