2022 Award Winners
FULL FRAME GRAND JURY AWARD ($10,000)
The Full Frame Grand Jury Award was presented to I Didn’t See You There, directed by Reid Davenport.
An Honorable Mention was presented to Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes, directed by James Jones.
2022 Jurors: Jessica Beshir, Luke Lorentzen, Michèle Stephenson
Jury Statement:
“This film delivers a profoundly moving experience with astonishing vulnerability and a visionary creative voice. It’s with enormous excitement that we give the Grand Jury Award to I Didn’t See You There.
Through deeply impactful storytelling and use of rare archival footage, Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes carries a gut punch that continues to reverberate in our minds and hearts. We are elated to extend the Honorable Mention to Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes.”
FULL FRAME JURY AWARD FOR BEST SHORT ($5,000)
Provided by Drs. Barbra and Andrew Rothschild
The Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short was presented to The Silent Shore, directed by Nathalie Giraud and Timothée Corteggiani.
2022 Jurors: Logan Lynette Burroughs, Rebekah Fergusson, Danny Navarro
Jury Statement:
“The filmmaking craft on display in The Silent Shore immediately immerses viewers into a dreamy, whimsical, yet saddening world that feels every bit fantasy as it does real life. The story of Pierre and Aline is captured through nuanced cinematography, an evocative soundtrack, and editing that consistently reveals new layers. The end result is a deeply intimate exploration of love and loss, bringing understanding to the otherwise inexplicable.”
CHARLES E. GUGGENHEIM EMERGING ARTIST AWARD ($5,000)
Provided by the Charles E. Guggenheim Family
The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award was presented to Soldat Ahmet, directed by Jannis Lenz.
This prize is awarded to a first-time documentary feature filmmaker as a way to foster the work of new directors, young and old. It recognizes the extraordinary care that Charles Guggenheim took with the filmmakers whom he mentored and counseled throughout the filmmaking process.
2022 Jurors: Mike Attie, Carla Gutierrez, Dee Hibbert-Jones
Jury Statement:
“We award the Charles E. Guggenheim Award Emerging Artist Award to Jannis Lenz for Soldat Ahmet. The film builds a beautifully disciplined narrative, handling the subject of trauma in a unique, layered way. Soldat Ahmet is complex and moving, presenting emotion in unexpected ways with a subtle approach to character. We love the score and choreographed sections, the beautiful timing and lovely editing. Lenz has a clear, powerful voice which carries throughout the film.”
THE JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN HUMANITIES INSTITUTE AWARD ($5,000)
Sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University
The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Award was presented to Abyssal, directed by Alejandro Alonso.
This award is presented to a short film that highlights documentary as a formally inventive artistic medium. The prize recognizes significant innovation and excellence in areas including cinematography, sound design, style, structure, and other aesthetic dimensions.
For the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute: Franklin Cason, Joshua Gibson, Guo-Juin Hong, Ranjana Khanna, Shambhavi Kaul, Jennifer Zhou
Jury Statement:
“The jury is pleased to present the 2022 John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Award for aesthetic excellence and innovation to Abyssal. Set to the backdrop of a decommissioned cruise ship being stripped for parts, the filmmaker takes us on a fantastical journey with formal precision.
Much of the visual world of the film is obscured by shadows, and sparse light sources reveal only so much to the audience. Yet it’s this play of light and dark, and the withholding of information, that gives a sense of the ghost in the machine of these old but still present technologies creating a beautiful and haunting world within the film.
The jury found this film, through its precise composition and poetic dialogue, to challenge documentary form. It engages those of us watching to ask if what we are seeing is real or scripted, to examine what a camera captures, and thus how we understand documentary form. Abyssal demands a labor of the audience that is unique and distinctive among this year’s shorts, making us self-aware viewers.”
FULL FRAME PRESIDENT’S AWARD ($5,000)
Sponsored by Duke University
The Full Frame President’s Award is presented to No Soy Óscar, directed by Jon Ayon.
The President’s Award recognizes up-and-coming filmmakers; the prize is awarded to the best student film.
Selected by representatives on behalf of the President’s office at Duke University
Jury Statement:
“Searching for the place on the border between Mexico and Texas where Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his young daughter Angie Valeria drowned, director Jon Ayon carefully sifts through layers of memory, trauma, and grief. With stunning visuals and an intricate sound design, this poignant film weaves the voices of Indigenous people with the filmmaker’s own intimate reflections to reveal a portrait of loss that is both personal and far-reaching.”
KATHLEEN BRYAN EDWARDS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ($5,000)
Sponsored by the Julian Price Family Foundation in memory of Melanie Taylor
The Kathleen Bryan Edwards Award for Human Rights is presented to Aftershock, directed Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee.
This award is presented to a film that addresses a significant human rights issue in the United States. By inspiring advocacy, increasing awareness, and promoting equity and justice, the winning film will honor the legacy of Kathleen Bryan Edwards’s passion and activism for human rights.
For the Kathleen Bryan Edwards Family: Anne Arwood, Laura Edwards, Clay Farland, Margaret Griffin, Pricey Harrison
Jury Statement:
“This powerful advocacy-provoking film follows two bereaving families as they build communities of support and fight to bring institutional change and legislative reform for Black maternal health. What the future could be is presented with a patient-centered midwife birthing story all while providing the historical context of gynecology’s long-standing history of exploiting Black women. Aftershock brings to light the troubling reality of ‘A Black woman having a baby is like a Black man at a traffic stop with the police.'”