BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM AWARD
MDF 2019
Menorca Doc Fest’s jury, composed by Joan Bover, Sílvia Pons and Bárbara Fernández, has decided that the best short film of Menorca Doc Fest is Makun (No Llores): Dibujos en un C.I.E.
The Foreign Office Centres (C.I.E.s) in Spain are almost a secret to public opinion: successive Spanish governments have banned access to these prisons for innocent people, judges, lawyers, journalists and NGOs, which can contrast the allegations of violations of human rights made by prisoners. We managed to get into one of these C.I.E.s and Makun (No Llores) is the result.
Makun is an animated documentary film made from the drawings found on the walls of the CIE del Matoll on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura, and the testimonies of three people who came to Spain “without papers”, in pastry or after a long and difficult period of time for various countries. The film has been Goya’s candidate for Best Documentary Carpet, as well as winning international festivals of animation, documentary, human rights and generalists.
MDF 2020
Misericórdia, by Xavier Marrades, won the Best Short Documentary MDF 2020 Award
The film is a humanist look on the island of Itaparica, located in the Brazilian state of Bahia, through the path through the dreams of its inhabitants.
The jury of the second edition of the Menorca Doc Fest Best Documentary Award, consisting of Carles Bosch, Magda Timoner and Emilio Martí reported yesterday evening during the closing gala of MDF 2020 the winner of this edition: Misericórdia, by the filmmaker Xavier Marrades.
The film portrays, through the dreams of its inhabitants, the island community of Itaparica, located in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Thus, the jury notes that the collection of dreams narrated in voice-over, combined with the daily scenes that can be seen, manage to show us the reality, the taranna and the deeper roots of this society.
In the course of the closing act the director connected live to the auditorium of Mercadal. Through the videoconference, he was grateful for being chosen for this first prize.
MDF 2021
Imperdonable, of Marlén Viñayo, won the Best Short Documentary Award MDF 2021
Imperdonable is a short documentary film set in San Francisco Gotera Prison, El Salvador, Central American country. The short documentary focuses on the life of Giovanni, a former gay pandillero of the feared 18th Street in Los Angeles, who openly lives his homosexuality in a prison in El Salvador, and recounts his experiences as a gay man in a male and homophobic context.
Geovanny became a murderer when he was 12. He was a miserably fellow of Colla Barrio 18 and today fulfils his sentence of 35 years in an isolation cell in El Salvador. In prison, he retired from the gang and joined an Evangelical church that bestowed upon him the forgiveness of God. However, there is one sin that is unforgivable to both the church and the gang: Geovanny is gay.
This is a shocking work, which was born after Salvadoran journalist Carlos Martínez, told Marlén Vi.ayo that he had just been in prison in San Francisco Gotera, and that he had met a group of former pandilleros.
MDF 2022
Hardcore, by Adán Aliaga, won the Ullastre Award 2022
The Ullastre award for Best Documentary Short Film by Menorca Doc Fest has been for Hardcore, of Adán Aliaga. Over fifteen years ago Rafa lived in bed. He spends his time composing hardcore music and listening to videos about Taoism. For a few years now, the pains have been so unbearable that he is serious about demanding assisted death.
The jury formed by the Ariadna Ribas (filmmaker), the Minorcan filmmaker Macià Florit and the festival promoter Javier Múñiz have awarded this piece the highest quality of the twelve finalist films and opted for this short film for its rigour and formal consistency in relation to the subject matter, because it elaborates a portrait of a crude and vitalist character, which is astonished by its originality in showing its day-to-day, and its ability to move.
MDF 2023
Alba Esquinas and Paula Martínez distribute the Ullastre Award with the documentaries “Olores” and “Esto no es una película sobre Cardenete”.
The Ullastre prize for the best documentary short film of Menorca Doc Fest has finally been ex aequo for the works “Olores”, by Alba Esquinas; and “Esto no es una película sobre Cardenete”, by Paula Martínez Artero.
This was the verdict of the members of the jury, which this year has been formed by Adan Aliaga, winner of the 2022 Ullastre Award with the piece “Hardcore” (candidate to the nomination of the 38 Goya awards); Victòria Morell, director, screenwriter and producer of audiovisual content (candidate to the nomination of the Goya also with the long “Petricor”) and the Menorcan filmmaker Pep Salvador.
The jury also wanted to include a special mention in the list of winners, which has been included in the animated documentary short film “Diari d’unOPERADOR cinematogràfic” by the Menorcan Dani Seguí. It should be remembered that it is a film that recovers the love story of his grandfather, who was a projectionist for many years at the Teatre Principal in Maó, which has won several awards to date and also aspires to make a candidacy for the Goya awards. The director is currently preparing an extended version to feature film.
MDF 2024
‘El bus’ wins the Ullastre Award for best documentary short from Menorca Doc Fest
The Ullastre Award for Best Documentary Short Film, has been for Sandra Reina’s The Bus. A bus picks up passengers on a Friday morning to travel the route that brings them closer to the weekend, with their plans, their reflections and their fears. The same bus will pick them up on Sunday afternoon to return them to their place of origin. With this documentary Reina also won the Gaudí for Best Short Film and was nominated for the Goya. He has also been selected at prestigious qualifying festivals for the Oscars, including the Malaga Film Festival, where he won the Special Jury Mention.
On the other hand, Ignacio Acconcia’s short film has been awarded the Special Jury Mention by IMADE. A young migrant based in Catalonia is looking forward to returning to Morocco to visit his family, whom he has not seen for years. In order to do this, it will have to fight against the isolation and loneliness in which it lives due to its deafness.
BIOSFERA AWARD
AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM OUTREACH OF BIOSPHERE, NATURE AND SUSTAINABILITY RESERVES
MDF 2021
Voces en el barranco, by Rafael Marrero Acosta, won the Biosfera Award 2021
It is a short documentary by filmmaker Rafael Marrero for the Cabildo de Gran Canaria about the participation of the local population in the management of the natural environment in the Guguy Special Nature Reserve, which belongs to the Gran Canaria Biosphere Reserve. A reflection on the relationship between man and nature from the look of the people who live and are part of the natural environment on Gran Canaria Island. The award, given by biologists Miquel Truyol and Marta Carreras, was awarded “for its informative value and for showing a way of life impregnated by the territory and at the same time defining it, essence in itself of what is a biosphere reserve”.
MDF 2022
El último de Arganeo, by David Vázques, won the Biosfera Award 2022
El último de Arganeo, by David Vázquez, won the award for best short-disclosure of biosphere, nature and sustainability reserves of the Menorca Doc Fest, which was unveiled to Saint Louis. The winner of the Biosphere Prize portrays a young pastor, Edilbero Rodríguez, who studied Forests in Ponferrada and who each year with his flock keeps alive the tradition and customs of an ancient lifestyle. Every year he climbs into the Arganeo corrals to reconstruct them and stay with his herd and keeps alive the oral tradition, and he reclaims a natural environment, customs and traditions.
The jury, consisting of the documentarians Álex Dioscórides, Magda Timoner and Carmina Balaguer, have awarded this piece unanimously to put into value a lifestyle that is susceptible to extinction and that is necessary to maintain the sustainability and bond that man establishes with nature, through the strength and conviction of a character that makes a local history universal.
MDF 2023
AWARD FOR THE CREATION OF DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS
‘Éter’ and ‘Prendre la fresca, a ritual in danger of extinction’, winners of the Menorca Biosphere Award Doc Fest 2023
The short films: ‘Prendre la fresca, un ritual en perill d’extinció’, by Àlex Arroyo and Clara Pons, and ‘Éter’, by Pau Jaume and Guillermo Calleja, were, unanimously, the winners of this edition. This is the award for the best documentary short film on the environment, nature, sustainability, science and biodiversity and life forms linked to the island of Menorca.
The jury has highlighted that the work ‘Prendre la fresca, un ritual en perill d’extinció’, shows a portrait of the Menorcan custom of sitting in the open, and its function as a means of communication and cohesion of the peoples that have begun to disappear, with reflection on the changes of habits and the tradition of the peoples. The work “Éter” highlighted the exhibition of a person from Menorca’s relationship with their land, plants, nature and the sea.
MDF 2024
AWARD FOR THE CREATION OF DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS
Claudia Barthelemy wins the Menorca Doc Fest Biosphere Award
Claudia Barthelemy, with the short film in process “Night Feature”, has been the winner. In the project he accompanied his father, one of the last lighthouse keepers on the island, and his colleagues during the last days before retiring to portray the memory of this trade and the experiences they have shared over the years. He competed with Arnau Cloquells, with the documentary project “Calma chicha”, about a community of surfers, and Macià Florit, with the project “Souvenir”.
The short film festival Biosfera, which this year has become a documentary creation grant, has the support of Menorca Film Commission and the Fundació Foment del Turisme de Menorca. The grant, which the three creators have received, has also included a scriptwriting residency at Casa d’Artistes (es Mercadal) with the mentoring of Laia Manresa to accompany the processes of creation and production.
TRAMUNTANA AWARD
BEST PHOTO PROJECT AWARD
MDF 2020
POUPÉES de Neus Solà won the first edition of the Documentary Photography Prize MDF 2020
She does so with a bittersweet look at the Roma condition of the neighborhood of La Cité de Perpignan, France.
The artist and documentary photographer, traces with Poupées (nines, in French) a visual testimony of the Roma female youth of the community of La Cité de Perpignan, and shows the wildest face of the childhood and adolescence of these young women, which contrasts with the restrictions they will have to assume once they have lost their virginity to become adult women. The title of the project also aims to serve as a metaphor associated with the Romani patriarchal system and to highlight the premature cosification and sexualisation of these girls who paradoxically have to live with the standards dictated by their tradition.
Interested in exploring the human condition, her photographic work focuses on themes of identity, gender and territory from an anthropological perspective. His work has been recognized nationally and internationally and he has exhibited in several countries such as Spain, France, Sweden, the Arab Emirates, India, Mexico and others. Since 2017, she has worked on a project about the transgender community of India and recently accompanied participatory photography projects in Catalonia and France.
MDF 2021
EL AGUANTE: LA BOCA. BUENOS AIRES of Laia Albert won the Tramuntana Prize 2021
The work of the barcelonine portrays the reality of the La Boca neighborhood, near the center of Buenos Aires city. It contains the day-to-day, constant struggle to escape from imposed realities, hostility and precariousness of unchosen characters.
ILLA DE L’AIRE AWARD
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY DOCUMENTARY (MEANING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT)
MDF 2021
CABRERA, LA MEDITERRÀNIA ANCESTRAL of Paleàrtica films won the Illa de l’Aire Award.
Award sponsored by Menorca Preservation and Certàmen MARE with the collaboration of the Ayuntamiento de Sant Luis.
The documentary takes us to this, today, paradise, which was the field of military manoeuvring in the past. We will see the life of a fauna that resisted abandoning its home and has now experienced an explosion of biodiversity that is difficult to observe outside these archipelagos.
F16
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREATION RESIDENCE IN CASA D’ARTISTES
MDF 2021
Anna Lofi, winner of the photographic creation residence, F16.
Thanks to the F16 artistic residence of Es Far Cultural that took place during the months of October and November 2021, Anna Lofi performed the reportage Artesans Menorca in homage to all people living and working in crafts and traditional jobs on the island of Menorca. Some of these services are disappearing, others have already done so, and many have evolved to adapt to the new times. However, some Minorcans and Minorcans rely on these types of work to keep their land culture alive. Nowders, fishermen, stonesmiths, blacksmiths, sparters, teachers of the ash… some have followed the family business of their parents, even grandparents, and today they continue to work to preserve and add value to crafts. These professionals of the manual arts see their vocations being lost over the years and the new generations choose to engage in other jobs, mostly facing the tourism sector. The craftsmanship of the island of Menorca marks a cultural identity that, for the time being, still persists despite the constant changes that the island undergoes. With these photographs, I invite you to reflect and share a journey towards the authenticity of the island of Menorca, to meet its characters and different ways of working, and therefore living.
