The phoenix Award is given for the best documentary film in the competition series Top Ten TV and Best of Cinema Documentary. The prize is donated by the TV station phoenix and is endowed with 10,000 euros. This year's phoenix Award goes to journalist and documentary filmmaker Benedetta Argentieri for her film THE MATCHMAKER.
The wars and the struggles for democracy and gender equality in the Islamic world of the Middle East is a recurring theme in Benedetta Argentieri’s work. As a trained journalist she first worked for Italy’s leading daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. In 2013 she was involved in the documentary CAPULCU – VOICES OF GEZI about the Gezi Park protests in Turkey. In 2016 she entered an active warzone for the first time as a filmmaker, accompanied by Bruno Chiaravalloti and Claudio Jampaglia. In OUR WAR they tell the stories of international fighters that have joined the Kurdish People's Defense units in their fight against ISIS. With I AM THE REVOLUTION (2018) and BLOOMING IN THE DESERT (2021) Argentieri portrays three women each that fight for democracy, freedom and gender equality in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. For her latest film THE MATCHMAKER she switches sides to interview a young British woman who recruitet other women for ISIS.
The winners of the phoenix Award in recent years are:
2021 Phil Grabsky
2020 Radu Ciorniciuc
2019 Nanfu Wang
2018 Chris Martin
2017 Kevin Macdonald
2016 Pieter-Jan De Pue
2015 Joshua Oppenheimer
