The Belfast documentary The Flats has taken the main honour, the Dox:Award, at the CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen, marking the first time an Irish-produced film has won the top prize at the festival, one of the key documentary showcases in the world.
Directed by Alessandra Celesia, The Flats "tells the story of Joe, and his neighbours Jolene, Angie, and other residents of the tower blocks in the 'difficult' Belfast neighbourhood of New Lodge, a nationalist hotspot during the Troubles".
"In order to face up to the traumatic experiences dogging them, the protagonists engage in a process of revisiting the collective memories that shaped their lives and the district they live in," the synopsis continues.
Honouring Italian director Celesia's film, the CPH:DOX festival jury said: "Our main award recognises not only creative and conceptual daring, but a filmmaker with the humility to realise when the story outgrows its framework, and the confidence to follow where it, and its fantastically vivid characters lead.
"We live in a world of divisions, borders, and locked gates. Coming like a conversation shouted through one of those locked gates, our winning film is a collective portrait of several proud, funny, resourceful individuals, who would be willing to die for their community but who choose each day the harder, braver, and more hopeful option of living for it instead.
"The Dox:Award goes to Alessandra Celesia for the witty, multi-layered, profound, and provocative The Flats."
Dublin's Planet Korda Pictures and Dumbworld in Belfast are among the producers of The Flats, which was backed by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland.
The Flats will screen at the Galway Film Fleadh in July and the IFI Doc Fest in Dublin in September before going on general release.
