Awards

The jury noted: "Turning the stuff of headlines into intimate personal history, Talal Derki's Return to Homs uses extraordinary access-footage from young rebels' private meetings and urban battles-as a window onto the Syrian conflict. The film's light-footed coverage captures the spirit of an uprising driven by mobile technology, while its emotional immediacy brings to life one rebel's slow progression from peaceful protester to violent revolutionary. This is the rare film valuable both as a revelatory news document and as a moving story out of time: a private narrative that maps the broader course of conflict and idealism in the region."

From one of the darkest corners of the world emerge a film that explores the affection, brotherhood and love and a central character whose conviction drove a generation of young people to fight for what they believed in. Despite the inhumane conditions, the filmmaking team was able to deliver a beautifully crafted film while working with elements that were totally out of their control.

Reasoning (according to jury): Through the power of artistic creation Under the Sky of Damascus precisely describes what lies beneath the major problems of humanity: a deeply rooted gender violence and patriarchal oppression.

"Every film in this year's Movies That Matter selection could be said to be important in its own way. Either in terms of an innovative approach to the notion of human rights, either by bravely documenting their breach, or by portraying people who were in some sense instruments of change, the films in this selection are the current diagnosis of mankind and a filter checking the amount of human qualities still left in us. The jury decided to give this award to Talal Derki's OF FATHERS AND SONS, a shocking tale of a Jihadi family in today's Syria, about the ease of killing end even greater ease of justification, about the radicalisation of boys and first of all about the medium of this radicalisation - a manipulative relationship between a father - a member of Al-Nusra front - and his sons. Despite the fact that the author keeps aside in the film, consciously choosing to be an observer rather than a participant, this film is also trying to document the trauma of a person who moves further and further away from the country of his memories with every scene, and closer and closer to the realisation that this country is now gone forever. Although the scene often emit horror against a gloomy backdrop, this film has a powerful positive effect. The director's courage in documenting an important story in extremely difficult conditions, risking even his own life, instils in the viewers a permission and an obligation to show courage as well."