This year’s award winners are announced
The juries have spoken: Here are the year’s best Norwegian documentary and human rights documentary.
Saturday evening was extra festive at the HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival as this year’s awards were presented.
The festival has two competition programs: one for new Norwegian documentaries competing for the HUMAN award, and one for films with human rights themes competing for the HUMAN Rights Human Wrongs Award.
Congratulations to all the winners!
HUMAN award
New Norwegian documentaries competed to win the HUMAN award and 50,000 kroner. Read more about the films here.
The jury for the Norwegian competition program consisted of Erland Edenholm, Atle Hunnes Isaksen and Ingrid Liavaag.
The winner: Kyiv Solists
Director: Trond Kvig Andreassen
Production company: Indie Film
Thrown into limbo as war refugees, the musicians of Kyiv Soloists try to navigate their new lives.
The jury’s statement:
“A powerful film about finding new opportunities and enduring together in a pressured situation. With its honesty and willingness to invite us into a world of both despair and human warmth, this film moved us deeply. Music serves as the glue and catalyst, driving both the characters and the film forward. With striking cinematography, this documentary delivers a captivating visual narrative of the human cost of war.”
Honorable mention: What we talk about when we talk about music
Regi: Mats Andersen
Produsent: Rebel Unit
Music is magical! What is it that gives music its unique power over man?
The jury’s statement:
“A debut film that manages to talk about something as difficult as music. The film takes us on a playful, but also scientific journey, and gives us an explanation of why music has such a strong influence and touches us so deeply in the soul. The film has a stylish and exciting form and uses visual effects in an innovative way. The film is very well edited.”
HUMAN Rights Human Wrongs Award
Ten documentaries from around the world with human rights themes competed for the Human Rights Human Wrongs Award and 30,000 kroner provided by Amnesty International Norway and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. Read about the films here.
The jury consisted of Mariam Kirollos, Silje Poulsen Viki and Mari Monrad Vistven.
Vinneren: Yintah
Directors: Michael Toledano, Jennifer Wickham and Brenda Michell
An indigenous people’s fight in Canada against some of the world’s largest oil companies.
The jury’s statement:
“The Human Rights Human Wrongs Award goes to the most powerful depiction of acts of resistance and a profound affirmation of Indigenous worldviews. Narrating the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s struggle to protect their land from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, the film immersed us in a battle that is both deeply local and undeniably global.
This is not just about land rights—but an ancestral relationship with the land itself. For the Wet’suwet’en, as for Indigenous peoples worldwide, the land is not owned; rather, they belong to it. The rivers, mountains, and forests are not resources to be exploited but relatives to be honored and protected. This deep connection resonates far beyond Wet’suwet’en territory, echoing the struggles of the Sámi people here in Norway fighting to protect their reindeer herding lands from the Fosen wind project, the Standing Rock Sioux’s defiance against the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Sahrawi people’s fight for self-determination and independence from Moroccan control, the Mapuche people’s resistance in Chile, and the Palestinian people’s fight to remain on and protect their ancestral lands from occupation.
We found this film a truly powerful call to action, emphasizing that the struggle for Indigenous peoples’ rights and sovereignty is also deeply interconnected with the fight to protect the planet itself. ”
Honorable mention: Patrice: The Movie
Regi: Ted Passon
This is a charm bomb about love and equality, and about the rights of disabled people in the US.
The jury’s statement:
“This film deserves an honorable mention for underscoring the systemic barriers faced by people with disabilities in the US, particularly the marriage penalties that threaten essential governmental benefits. It sheds light on often-overlooked issues that disabled people face when it comes to basic human rights like love and marriage.
At a time when human rights in the United States are under heavy attack, the rights of people with disabilities must not be ignored. This incredibly charming, creative and heartwarming film calls for justice, equality, and the protection of dignity for all, told by a filmmaker that shows the deepest respect and admiration for their subjects. Everyone has the right to love and live without fear of losing basic rights.”
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