IMS to present this year’s documentary F:ACT Award at CPH:DOX

International Media Support (IMS) is proud to be part of the international documentary festival CPH:DOX again this year, presenting the prestigious F:ACT Award together with the Danish Union of Journalists on 23 March. The award honours films that operate in the intersection between documentary film making, investigative journalism and social activism.

Winners of the award receive  5,000 Euros. The award was presented for the first time in 2013. Former winners of the F:ACT award include: Radio Kobani (2017) – Netherlands, Reber Dosky; Among Believers (2015) – Pakistan, Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi; E-Team (2014) – United States, Katy Chevigny & Ross Kauffman; and Dirty Wars (2013), United Kingdom, Richard Rowley.

Nominees for F:ACT Award 2018

CPH:DOX has just released the list of 10 films nominated for the F:ACT award at this year’s CPH:DOX festival. The selectin is diverse, ranging from films about enslaved children in India, female prisoners in Iran to post-conflict Northern Ireland and the surge of the Alt-Right movement in the United States. The nominated films are:

False Confessions
Denmark/Germany, Katrine Philp, World Premiere

The film follows a Danish-born defense attorney working in New York to prevent false confessions obtained during interrogations, where trained interrogators can push innocent people to confess to anything.

The China Hustle
United States, Jed Rothstein, European Premiere

In the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008, Wall Street business people turned their sights on China. The film unravels the unknown story of the continued employment of dubious financial business models at a point in time where lessons of the past ought to have illiminated such practices.

Weapon of Choice
Austria, Fritz Ofner og Eva Hausberger, International Premiere

Based on the fondness of firearms in the US, the film delves into the story of the Glock pistol – a popcultural reference glorified in numerous movies and tracks, but also the most famous hand weapon in the world.

Alt-Right
United States, Adam Bhala Lough, International Premiere

The rest of the world only became aware of the growing Alt-Right movement in United States after the election of President Trump. The film documents both the movement, as well as the citizen activists fighting hard to prevent its further promotion.

Exit
Norway, Karen Winther, World Premiere

“An investigative first-hand account of radicalisation and the tough exit,” writes CPH:DOX. The Norwegian filmmaker Karen Winther used to be a neo-Nazi herself and through interviews with former extremists (Nazis, jihadists, violent autonomous) she examines the process of becoming an extremist and then of exiting the extremist environments again.

Our New President
United States/Russia, Maxim Pozdorovkin, International Premiere

Put on your Russian propaganda glasses and find out just how Trump was elected president. Satire and relevant journalism side by side, writes CPH:DOX.

Laila by the Bridge
Canada, Elissa Mirzaei og Gulistan Mirzaei, World Premiere

Meet Laila, an Afghan bad-ass woman on a tour-de-force mission to fight the Afghan heroin mafia while helping the many drug addicts living in Kabul.

A Woman Without a Name
Iran, Farzad Khoshdast, World Premiere

Inside the walls of the female prison Gharchak in Tehran, Iran, four women open up their hearts to tell the story of how they ended up behind bars. “A film rich on nuances and contrasts,” writes CPH:DOX.

A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot
Ireland/Great Britain, Sinéad O’Shea, International Premiere

Although the unrest in Northern Ireland ended 20 years ago, the echoes of the conflict are still audible today. The film covers the story of a mother, a son, the man who shot the son in his legs on his mother’s bidding and their life in Derry after the incident.

Kailash
United States, Derek Doneen, International Premiere

A journey into the darkest corners of the world where children are still enslaved for profit. The film portrays the Indian activist and Nobel Prize-winner Kailash Satyarthi in his continued battle to save children from slavery.