Award winners announced for 23rd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

The world's biggest documentary festival still runs until Sunday, but today at the 23rd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) they announced their award winners. The opening night film Stand van de sterren (Position Among the Stars) by Leonard Retel Helmrich was the big winner, taking both the top prize VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and also the Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary. Helmrich becomes the first two-time winner of for Best Feature-Length Documentary, having won in 2004 with The Shape of the Moon. Both films were part of a trilogy begun in 2002 with De stand van de zon (The Eye of the Day) about the Sjamsuddins, a Christian-Muslim family in Indonesia.

A Special Jury Award was given to the Canadian film You Don't Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantánamo by Luc Coté and Patricio Henriquez. It is a provocative film that uses actual interrogation footage of the Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr in Guantanamo to make a good case that he may very well be innocent, and even if guilty should be recognized as a child soldier. He has since pleaded guilty, which in light of this film seems to be a sad realization that a plea was his only path to freedom. Also from Canada, Katerina Cizek won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling for her interactive documentary HIGHRISE/Out My Window which was developed with the National Film Board (NFB). This is the first year IDFA has given the DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling and the environmental Best Green Screen Documentary award (Into Eternity).

Last year's winner of the Best Feature-Length Documentary award was the exceptional Last Train Home by Montreal filmmaker Lixin Fan. It is currently in contention for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the 2011 Cinema Eye Honors.

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Complete list of award winners for the 23rd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (a sculpture and € 12,500)  

Position Among the Stars (the Netherlands), Leonard Retel Helmrich

Special Jury Award 

You Don't Like the Truth – 4 Days inside Guantánamo (Canada), Luc Coté and Patricio Henriquez 

NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€ 10,000) 

People I Could Have Been and Maybe Am (the Netherlands), Boris Gerrets 

IDFA Award for First Appearance ( € 5,000) 

Kano: An American and His Harem (the Philippines), Monster Jimenez 

Dioraphte IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary ( € 5,000) 

Position Among the Stars (the Netherlands), Leonard Retel Helmrich

Publieke Omroep IDFA Audience Award ( € 5,000) 

Waste Land (UK/Brazil), Lucy Walker

IDFA Award for Student Documentary (€ 2,500) 

What's in a Name (Belgium), Eva Küpper  

Hyves IDFA DOC U Award ( € 1,500)

Autumn Gold (Germany/Austria), Jan Tenhaven.

IDFA Award for Best Green Screen Documentary (€ 2,500) 

Into Eternity (Denmark/Sweden/Finland), Michael Madsen

honourable mention 

The Pipe (Ireland), Risteard Ó Domhnaill 

IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (a Canon 5D Mark II camera) 
HIGHRISE/Out My Window (Canada), Katerina Cizek