Dokufest Prizren/ 8/ The Winners
Last night in Prizren the Dokufest award ceremony was held at the Lumbhardi cinema followed by one more tribute to late Kiarostami, the screening of his “Close Up”. I take the liberty to mention the winners in the section, where I was part of the jury, the Human Rights Award that was given to “Homeland (Iraq year Zero)” by Abbas Fahdel with the following motivation:
“An uncompromising and monumental documentary that patiently reveals the daily routine of an Iraqi family circling on the edge of tragedy, Homeland personalizes the true cost of war through the filmmaker’s respectful gaze.”
We also gave a “Special Mention” to “Starless Dreams“ by Mehrdad Oskouei with this motivation:
“A documentary film of rare delicacy, Starless Dreams explores the interior world of young imprisoned women in Iran with an indelible emotional precision and sensitivity to its subject.”
Among the many other awards I would like to mention that in the Balkan Documentary section, the main prize was given to “Depth Two” by Serbian Ognjen Glavonic with the motivation like this:
“For a film that we all found to be as cinematically accomplished as it is morally devastating, employing a language to fit its subject that combines audio witness with footage of tragically unpeopled landscapes, putting the viewer in a position of both historical reflection and present outrage, and providing a layered, emotional and intellectual engagement that we won’t soon forget…”
For the rest of the awards, please check
www.dokufest.com
Photo: The photographer, our wonderful jury assistant Gabriela Gojani, James Longley, award winner Abbas Fahnel, Mustafa Kemel Yüksel and me after the screening of his masterpiece.