Congo documentary Virunga tops DOXA 2014 awards

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      Before DOXA was off to the races with the Canadian premiere of Vancouver director Brent Hodge's documentary A Brony Tale, the 2014 award winners were announced on May 11.

      The Feature Documentary Award went to Orlando von Einsiedel's powerful, intense, and brave feature (and the Georgia Straight's cover story) Virunga, about park rangers who are protecting the habitat of the last wild mountain gorillas in the Congo from oil developers.

      Talal Erki's Return to Homs, which follows young Syrian men who give up pursuing promising careers to transform from citizens to revolutionary fighters in order to survive, received honourable mention.

      The Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary went to Meryam Joobeur's "Gods, Weeds and Revolutions", a short documentary about a woman who returns to her childhood village changed by the Tunisian Revolution, where her grandfather, who suffers from Alzheimer's and has lost his memories, lives.

      Honourable mention went to Dennis Allen's Crazywater, which tells a personal story of alcoholism and substance abuse in First Nations communities.

      This year's Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming went to DamNation, which examines what impact dams have on ecosystems. Meanwhile, Daniel Roher's "Resolute", a short documentary about the relocation of First Nations families from Quebec to Nunavut, received honourable mention.

      The Short Documentary Award went to Jana Minàrikovà's "Homo Ciris" (from Slovakia), about a man who wants to become a fish. Adela Kaczmarek's animated "The Governance of Love" (from Poland) received honourable mention.

      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig

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