The International Competition Jury Award for the Best Director was presented to The Myanmar Film Collective for the film Myanmar Diaries

The International Competition Jury selected the films to receive the International Competition Jury Award for the Best Film, the International Competition Jury Award for the Best Director, and the International Competition Jury Special Award. They had ten films to choose from, all of which stand out because of their original style and act as testimonies about the condition of human rights. 

The International Competition Jury members were Shanida Scotland, who is the head of Doc Society Film, the film critic and cultural journalist Pavel Sladký, and Belarus director Aliaksei Paluyan, whose film Courage opened last year’s One World Festival.

The International Competition Jury Award for the Best Director was presented to The Myanmar Film Collective for the film Myanmar Diaries. Regarding their choice, the jury said:

“A bloody t-shirt, a ghostly presence, a pregnancy test, police cruelty, escape and a butterfly – these images made by ten courageous filmmakers, showed us how to live when freedom is brutally suppressed. Their fantasies, dreams and ambitions mix with their realities and become one voice of their nation. Our decision to award the Myanmar Film Collective, highlights every single one of these directors. Freedom and creativity will prevail.”