The documentary by the Chinese filmmaker also won the Movies That Matter Award as best movie promoting human rights.

The film, on which Zhao worked for ten years, looks at the world of the "petitioners", people who come to Beijing from all parts of China in order to plead their case against injustices.

The film portrays with "discreet compassion touching destinies of ordinary people who fight for justice and their beliefs, and it also impresses with the author's dedication to his work," the jury said.

The Big Stamp Award in the regional competition programme went to Toto, a film by Peter Schreiner of Austria, a story of an Italian who has been living in Vienna for 30 years and dreams of returning to his birthplace.

The author has made "a precise film about a person one would normally never notice, who takes us on a journey to a lost identity and childhood," the jury said.

The Polish documentary "Chasm" by Wojciech Kaspersky, a story of a lone prospector for gold in the mountains of northern Siberia, won the Little Stamp Award for best film authored by a director under 30.

Special diplomas in the international competition programme were awarded to "Last Train Home" by Lixin Fan of China and "The Glass House" by Hamid Rahmanian of Iran.

The winner in the regional competition programme is the film "Guilty" by Milica Djenic of Serbia.

In the category of young authors, a special award went to the Russian film "Sanya and Sparrow" by Andrey Gryazev, while the Movies That Matter Award went to the Croatian documentary "Why" by Ljubica Jankovic Lazaric.

This year's ZagrebDox festival, at which 150 recent productions from all over the world were shown in the last seven days, on Sunday features the Best of Fest programme, with all the awarded films. Also on Sunday, the Audience Award will be presented.