This year we are delighted to host the 2023 FOCAL Awards at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms on June 15th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2025 shortlisted nominations
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis
Director:
Volker Heise
Producer(s):
Yan Schoenefeld
Archive Producer/ Researchers:
Janne Gärtner, Monika Preischl, Mona El-Bira
Archival Sources:
DFA, ZDF, RTL, ARD Aktuell, WDR/ Radio Bremen
Production Company:
Film Five GmbH
Country of Production:
Germany
Synopsis
Gladbeck, Germany, August 1988: Two gangsters rob a bank, take two hostages and embark on an odyssey across West Germany. They hijack a bus carrying 32 passengers. The police lose control of the situation as reporters get whiff of spectacle and inject themselves into a crime that blossoms into a media sensation. For three days, the eyes and ears of the entire country are glued to live television, live radio and newspapers – and before it’s all over, two innocent people are dead.
GLADBECK: THE HOSTAGE CRISIS tells an abysmal story exclusively using archive materials, including news, live reports, telephone recordings and amateur recordings made over the three days of the hostage rampage. The film is an unsparing look at the moment when news became merchandise and crime became spectacle – it was the beginning of an era that persists until today.
Fire of Love
Director:
Sara Dosa
Producer(s):
Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, Ina Fichman
Footage Archive Producer:
Nancy Marcotte
Archival Sources:
Images de L’Est, l’INA, Sonuma, RTS, NBC Japanese Broadcaster
Production Company:
National Geographic Documentary Films, Sandbox Films Production, Intuitive Pictures, Cottage M Production
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
From National Geographic Documentary Films comes the extraordinary love story of intrepid
French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who died just as explosively as they lived —
capturing the most spectacular imagery ever recorded of their greatest passion: volcanoes.
God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines
Director:
Kristian R. Hill
Producer(s):
Jennifer Washington
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Nyeri Adolphus, Masha Mikhailova
Archival Sources:
Retro Video, Inc. and Nathaniel Morris, Detroit Historical Society, Kinolibrary, Norman "Normski" Anderson, Bell Media
Production Company:
Washington Hill Pictures, XTR
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
'God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines' is the story behind one of Detroit’s great contributions to world culture: Techno, the electronic music phenomenon created by Black artists in the 1980s that transformed dance music internationally and blossomed into the multi-billion dollar industry of EDM today.
37 Words
Director:
Dawn Porter, Nicole Newnham
Producer(s):
Clare Smith Marash, Nicole Newnham, Dawn Porter, Camille Servan-Schreiber, Alexandria Cooper, Spencer Barry, Chantre Camack, Scott Siebers, Sharee Stephens
Archive Researcher/ Producer:
Rachel Antell, Jennifer Petrucelli
Archival Sources:
Getty Images, NBC News Archives, Associated Press, ABC News Videosource, CBS News Archives, Veritone, Historic Films Archive LLC
Production Company:
ESPN Films, Trilogy Films, Industrial Media
Country of Production:
United States
Synopsis
“37 Words” tells the inspiring story of Title IX – the hard-fought battle to push for equal rights in education and athletics; the decades-spanning effort to nullify its impact; and the rippling impacts of the landmark civil rights law that continue to resonate today. Featuring Billie Jean King, Gloria Steinem, Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Barack Obama and legendary figures in sports and politics that played a critical role in passing and maintaining the legislation.
The four-part series charts the spectacular transformation that 37 words have inspired in American culture and the lives of women, as well as the many ways in which the spirit of this bold law has yet to be fully realized.
