The film Long Night's Journey Into Day, by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann (USA), won the International Nuremberg Human Rights Film Award, worth 5,000 DM. The film illustrates the work of South Africa's "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" which has brought together both victims and perpetrators. The justification was as follows:
"The award for best film at the Second International Human Rights Film Festival goes to:
Long Night's Journey Into Day, by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann, for its committed covering of a painful, yet encouraging, attempt to come to terms with the past. The film allows us to partake in a unique model for solving conflicts between hostile members of a population, at the end of which reconciliation seems possible.
The jury would also like to highlight the film South by Chantal Akerman for its extraordinary cinematographic quality. By means of a montage of calm and intensive shots and striking live sound, a racist crime is described and becomes tangible, without ever appearing in the picture."
The jury members were Michael Aue (filmmaker, Nuremberg), Thomas Frickel (filmmaker, Rüsselsheim), Erika Gregor (International Forum of Young Cinema, Berlin), Brita Lax-Engel (amnesty international, Bonn), Peter Nestler (documentary filmmaker, Stockholm) and Hupert Sauper (filmmaker, Paris).
When presenting the award, the City of Nuremberg's Professional Town Councillor, Department of Culture, Dr Georg Leipold, emphasised the importance of this unique festival for human rights work in the city. He seemed very pleased that the festival had created a forum which was in clear opposition to the commercial film world.