Lotnitza, who lives in St. Petersburg, was not on hand to receive the award which was announced at a closing ceremony Saturday night, but expressed his delight during an on-stage telephone call with hearty and uncontrollable laughter.

The IDFA award, which provides an expense-paid trip to the International Documentary Filmfestival in Amsterdam, was won by Polish director Maciej Cuske for his project On the Sky on Earth.

Another Polish work, Pawel Lozinsky's Chemistry, was awarded the Golden Funnel prize by the lecturers of this year's European Forum workshop, which includes a trip to the biggest European docu market Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France.

The new Respekt Prize, for the best television or video report of the year, was awarded to Filip Černý for his report about Czech highways on the programme ČT Reporters.