{"id":209212,"date":"2025-06-24T02:20:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T02:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/209212\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T02:20:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T02:20:24","slug":"sheffield-docfest-2025-winners-welded-together-comparsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/209212\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield DocFest 2025 Winners: ‘Welded Together,’ ‘Comparsa’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 32nd edition<\/a> of\u00a0Sheffield\u00a0DocFest 2025<\/a>\u00a0is wrapping Monday after an awards ceremony at\u00a0Sheffield\u2019s Crucible Playhouse, which honored Anastasiya Miroshnichenko\u2018s Welded Together with the festival\u2019s top award. The documentary deals with alcoholism in Belarusian society, portraying a young woman who is desperately trying to hold her family together.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year saw 51 world premieres, 16 international<\/a> premieres, eight European premieres and 39 U.K. premieres from 68 countries of production screen in Sheffield.<\/p>\n

\n\tHere is a look at the 2025 award winners.<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Competition (Grand Jury Award)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWelded Together\u00a0directed by Anastasiya Miroshnichenko (France, Netherlands, Belgium, 2025).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cA portrait of resilience and strength \u2014 both of the main character and of a community that stands in solidarity. The film highlights the contrast between the generosity of the people and the harsh realities of alcoholism in the Belarussian society. An honest and delicate portrayal of a young woman desperately trying to hold her family \u2018welded together\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0The Gas Station Attendant, directed by Karla Murthy (USA, 2025)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cThis love letter to the director\u2019s father is an intimate and sincere portrait of both a family and the U.S. society. The film is delicately crafted with care, creativity, and sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational First Feature Competition (supported by Netflix)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tComparsa\u00a0directed by Vickie Curtis, Doug Anderson (Guatemala, USA, 2025).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cThe film that we chose celebrates the power of resilience of a community, while shedding light on an unknown story of systemic gender-based violence. It\u2019s a film that introduces us to amazing characters, smart, sensitive, with an astonishing inner force that is an inspiration to push for change against all odds. The movie will leave us with a much needed and powerful sense of hope. The creativity, the access, the trust built with the whole community made us fall in love with a movie that opens critical conversation: come on stage, do a dance, sing with me: COMPARSAAAAA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0Carmela and the Walkers\u00a0(Carmela y los Caminantes), directed by Luis Herrera, Esteban Coloma (Ecuador, 2025)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cThis film receives a special mention for its deeply human portrayal of resilience, solidarity, and moral courage in the face of crisis. With extraordinary intimacy and empathy, the filmmakers shed light on an urgent humanitarian issue through the powerful lens of one woman\u2019s everyday heroism, offering a moving testament to the strength of community and compassion amid adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Short Film Competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIn a Whisper (Dans un Souffle)\u00a0<\/strong>directed by Catarina Gon\u00e7alves (Portugal, Hungary, Belgium, 2025). <\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cFor its bold and minimalistic, cinematic mastery, and thoughtfully crafted sound design, this elegant portrait of admiration and resilience reflects the extraordinary talent of a promising director whose trajectory is clearly on the rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0Oscurana, directed by Violeta Mora (Honduras, Hungary, Portugal, Belgium, 2025)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cWe would like to give an honourable mention to a beautiful film for its unique perspective, presented in a visually sparse yet powerfully affecting manner. This sensory invitation fosters empathy for the human rights crises that immigrants face when crossing borders, and it is now more critical than ever in this unprecedented time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTim Hetherington Award (presented in association with Dogwoof<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSudan, Remember Us (Sudan Y\u2019a Ghali)\u00a0directed by Hind Meddeb (France, Tunisia, Qatar, 2024).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cSet against a women-led revolution, Sudan, Remember Us captures the spirit of resistance and the deep human desire for freedom. The film is rich in colour and texture, and there\u2019s a quiet poetry in the way the story unfolds. It reminds us of the human capacity for hope, the importance of empathy and the tragedy of loss. At its heart is a deep sense of community where the collective takes priority over the individual. This spirit of togetherness is one of the film\u2019s most powerful messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Virtual Reality Competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSpeechless Witness of a Wandering Tree.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cWe unanimously agreed to give this award to a project that employs a poetic approach to language and visual storytelling and acts as an intimate healing ritual in the ongoing aftermath of hostility towards women in an area of conflict. Through magical realism and the innovative use of the 360 cameras to constructively process the impact of trauma and given the restrictions of producing work in this region, the artists we feel should be additionally commended on the making of their work against the backdrop of instability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYouth Jury Award<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRuna Simi\u00a0directed by Augusto Zegarra (Peru, 2025) by \u201cfive of the U.K.\u2019s most passionate young documentary lovers to celebrate non-fiction cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cLanguage is more than just a means of communication between peoples. Language shapes how we think, our beliefs and our experience of the world. Languages are dynamic; emerge from contexts, evolve, become endangered, even extinct. This is a film all about language and one individual\u2019s specific and humble dream to preserve his native tongue through the magic of popular cinema. With gorgeous cinematography and a soulful, intergenerational cast, this is a story of hope, community and decolonisation in action. It blossoms to become far more universal than its specific cultural context and is ultimately a tribute to the power of cinema to unite. As young people, we all see non-fiction so differently, with so many possibilities, but this documentary connects our passion. It is a film that amplifies, celebrates and preserves a lived reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecial Mention:\u00a0The Stand,\u00a0directed by Christopher Auchter (Canada, 2024)<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said:\u00a0\u201cWe feel this film comes at a particularly pressing political moment, where hope can often feel in limited supply. In times like these, it is vital for us to turn to, and to learn from history. To recognize that injustice has always existed, but people have always resisted. The Stand\u00a0depicts this resistance with galvanising force. It is a story of the land rights protests of the Haida nation in 1985, told through the distillation of over 100 hours of archival footage to form a compelling and immersive portrait of a movement. Witnessing the steadfast commitment, humanity and unwavering compassion of the Haida people is deeply hopeful and represents a form of inspiration for audiences today on how to effectively resist.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 32nd edition of\u00a0Sheffield\u00a0DocFest 2025\u00a0is wrapping Monday after an awards ceremony at\u00a0Sheffield\u2019s Crucible Playhouse, which honored Anastasiya Miroshnichenko\u2018s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,522,1620,31670,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-209212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-international","12":"tag-sheffield","13":"tag-sheffield-docfest","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114735954198183782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}