The 8th edition of The International Documentary Film Festival CRONOGRAF came to an end on the evening of May 16 at Odeon cinema, where took place the Gala Awards.
From 27 films of  26 countries presented in the Main Section, The Grand Prix and the Trophy of the Festival was won by the Israeli film Dancing Alfonso – director and director of photography, Barak Heymann. The films shows a story and an unusual portray af the inner world of the elders, a view on the infinity that dwelles within us, a place where the hope of finding the great love never dies. This is how the Main Section Jury commented:  “In our youth oriented world, the author expresses very nicely the old people’s desire to remain young, in a respectful manner, with a kind of nostalgic approach.” The jury was composed by Boris Conunov, President of the Jury (Republica of Moldova), Cristian Tabără (Romania), Ola Salwa (Poland), Ekaterina Andrikanis (Czech Republic) şi Antoine Cattin (Switzerland).

The Prize for Best Director, offered by “Mold Cinema” was won by the pollish film Goldfish – director and director of photography, Tomasz Wolski .The Jury sustained that “It is a performance to create something from “fragments”. It is worth mentioning the director’s effort to bring these people closer to us!”.

The Prize for Best Image, offered by TV5 MONDE, a standing partner of the festival, was handed to Jana Richter,  director and director of photography of Gauchos: if you don’t get on, you won’t fall off (Germany). According to the jury, “The camera successfully reflected the natural atmosphere of the real life, applying a good method of filming, this way keeping the camera among acting people for so long that, finally, they got used to it.”

The Special Prize of the Jury will go to Bulgaria for the film Divorce Albanian Styl – director and director of photography Adela Peeva, which “succeeded (…) to confront both the victims and the punishers in one film.”, as was mentioned by the jury. The prize was offered by the organization “Save the Children”, Moldova.

Within the Main Section, the jury offered three Special Mentions for the films Queen Maria / Regina Maria, directed by Olga Pascari (Moldova), Music Partisans, directed by Miroslaw Dembinski (Poland) and Shadow of the Holy Book, directed by Arto Halonen (Finland, Denmark and Switzerland) which received a Special Prize from JurnalTV, a partner of the festival. Among other prizes offered by several organizations and festival partners, there were:
Prize for Debut, offered by Filmmakers Union of Moldova was handed to Otilia Babără, the director of the film Women on canvas / Femei pe pânză (Romania, France).

The Prize „Ion Vatamanu – love for motherland” is offered within the International Documentary Film Festival for the third time. It is a prize established by Leontina Vatamanu, the daughter of the poet and the artistic director of the festival. At the 8th edition, this prize was handed to the moldovian documentary Regina Maria / Queen Maria, directed by Olga Pascari, for the sensitivity and humor which she used in making a documentary about the moldavian village Regina Maria, a village where people create miths and legends upon times now gone in a monotonous present.

Another Special Prize came from the association Hyde Park for the production To be a child in Iran, directed by Behrooz Karamizade (Germany, Iran).

The Public Simpathy Prize at the Main Section was won by the documentary Pancevo – dead city, directed by Antonio Martino (Serbia, Italy). The same prize designated by the public present at the festival for the cadRO Section was won by the film Once upon a time in Transilvania / A fost odată în Transilvania, directed by Manuela Morar.

At cadRO Section – unique in it’s specific among the world film festivals because it offers a wide view of the life and destiny of romanian communities and everywhere romanians – have participated 11 productions from 7 countries.
The winner of the cadRO Section Trophy is the romanian film Apuseni In The Future / Apuseni la viitor, directed by Cristina Oancea. The prize was offered by Chisinau City Hall. 

The II prize for cadRO Section, offered by TVR Iasi was won by Once upon a time in Transilvania / A fost odată în Transilvania, directed by Manuela Morar, Romania, and The III Prize, offered by Arc Publishing, was given ex aequo for two films: Your Lips Are Like A Rose Bud / Mândruliţă, pup de trandafir, directed by Traian Todoran, Serbia and Balkan’s Digest, directed by Ionuţ Piturescu, Romania.
At the 8th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival CRONOGRAF, at local TV productions Section there were 8 productions in competition. The I Prize and the Trophy of this section for the best work produced at a local TV studio was won by Oleg Danilceac from Pro-Art (Cahul) for the film The Prose of the time. The II Prize was offered to Angelina Zaharova for the film Great interests in a small cave / Interese mari într-o peşteră mică and the III Prize was given to Doina Ipatii from Video Expert. The prizes for local TV productions Section have been offered by OWH Studio, the organizer of the Festival.