Silver Dove for “The Giant Buddhas” in Leipzig

09.10.2005

At the 48th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, which ended on October 9, 2005, “The Giant Buddhas” by Christian Frei won the Silver Dove with a prize sum of 3,000 Euro. The award bestowed in Leipzig is the film’s first big prize after its international premiere in Locarno and a highly recognized presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. Additional participation at international festivals is scheduled for October in Vancouver (International Film Festival), Vienna (Viennale), and Valladolid (Seminci, festival competition), and for November in Copenhagen (cph:dox, festival competition).
The International Jury for Documentary film justified its unanimous decision as follows: “The filmmaker took a politically sensitive and highly symbolic news event which recently generated much interest, and turned it into a thoughtful, well researched and marvelously filmed analysis of the complexity and cultural perspectives that exist behind these type of television reports”.

Zurich, October 9, 2005