The Dependents, directed by Sofía Brockenshire, and One Take Grace, directed by Lindiwe Matshikiza, lead the award winners at this year’s Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM). The films won the Grand Prizes for Best National Feature and Best International Feature, respectively. The Dependents is a co-production between Canada and Argentina that filters migration stories through a personal lens as the filmmaker examines diaries left by her father, an immigration officer. The jury praised the film for its “delicate, profound, and nuanced perspective.”
The South African production One Take Grace, meanwhile, offers a collaborative portrait of Mothiba Grace Bapela and the various roles she plays. “This exceptional film draws the portrait of a woman that does not exist in cinema, that does not have a voice in cinema, who doesn’t film and produce images – historically,” remarked the RIDM jury in a statemet. “Grace is a survivor from the apartheid, from rape, from domination, from misery. But before anything else, Mothiba Grace Bapela is an artist, a filmmaker, an actress, who co-signed the scenario of the movie with its director, Lindiwe Matshikiza, and who brings us on the roads of introspection and collective healing.”
Other winners included Self-Portrait, Joële Walinga’s essayistic collage of surveillance footage, with the Special Jury Prize for National Feature. The international equivalent went to the Brazilian-Portuguese hybrid film Dry Ground Burning by Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta. Jacquelyn Mills added another prize to her run with the Student Award for Geographies of Solitude, while Karen Cho took home two awards for Big Fight in Little Chinatown. The film won the Women Inmates’ Award and the People’s Choice Award for its portrait of Chinatowns across North America.
The full list of 2022 RIDM Award winners is as follows:
Grand Prize for Best National Feature, presented by PRIM
The Dependents – Sofía Brockenshire (Canada, Argentina)
Grand Prize for Best International Feature
One Take Grace – Lindiwe Matshikiza (South Africa)
Special Jury Prize – National Feature
Self-Portrait – Joële Walinga
Special Jury Prize – International Feature
Dry Ground Burning – Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta (Brazil, Portugal)
Special mention: Anhell69 – Theo Montoya
Best National Short or Medium-Length Film, presented by Télé-Québec | La Fabrique culturelle and SLA Location
Landscape Suspended by Naghmeh Abbasi (Canada, Iran)
Special Jury Prize, National Short or Medium-Length Film, presented by Paraloeil
Infinite Distances – Pablo Alvarez Mesa
Special mention: Mecánicos piratas de Lima – Carlos Ferrand (Canada, Peru)
Best International Short or Medium-Length Film
Fuku Nashi – Julie Sando (Switzerland, Japan)
Special mention: No Star – Tana Gilbert Fernández (Chile)
New Visions Award
Veranada – Dominique Chaumont
Magnus Isacsson Award, presented in collaboration with ARRQ, DOC Québec, Funambules Médias, Cinema Politica and Main Film
The Myth of the Black Woman – Ayana O’ Shun
Special mention: Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace – Heather Hatch
Student Award, presented by Desjardins
Geographies of Solitude – Jacquelyn Mills (Canada)
Women Inmate Jury Award, in partnership with Telefilm Canada, the Quebec chapter of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal conclue entre la Ville de Montréal et le gouvernement du Québec.
Big Fight in Little Chinatown – Karen Cho (Canada)
People’s Choice Award, presented by the Canada Media Fund (NOUS | MADE)
Big Fight in Little Chinatown – Karen Cho (Canada)
