At the FILM FESTIVAL COLOGNE Awards on 16 October, the phoenix Prize for Best Documentary was presented, honoring the strongest documentary film in the competition sections Top TV, Best of Cinema Documentary, and Look.
Award Winner 2025: Mstyslav Chernov
Born in 1985 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Chernov is a reporter, photographer, and filmmaker who has covered conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and the European migration crisis as a journalist for the Associated Press. In 2022, he and two colleagues were among the last international journalists remaining in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was first besieged and later occupied by Russian forces.
From the material filmed there, he created his first feature-length documentary 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL (2023), a chronicle of life in the city under extreme conditions that expanded upon the immediate journalistic reporting. The film received numerous awards, including a BAFTA and the Oscar for Best Documentary. For the journalistic work he and his colleagues carried out in Mariupol, Chernov was also honored with the Pulitzer Prize in 2023.
Chernov has returned to the front lines in Ukraine: his second feature film, 2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA, offers a meticulous account of the costly battle for a strategically crucial position. The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and has since received multiple awards at festivals around the world. Chernov now lives in Germany.
The winners of the phoenix Award in recent years are:
2024 Michael Premo
2023 Kaouther Ben Hania
2022 Benedetta Argentieri
2021 Phil Grabsky
2020 Radu Ciorniciuc
2019 Nanfu Wang
2018 Chris Martin
2017 Kevin Macdonald
2016 Pieter-Jan De Pue
2015 Joshua Oppenheimer
