|
18th Fribourg International Film Festival
March 21-28, 2004
ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
This award consisting of Sfr. 5’000, is conferred jointly by two institutions working in development cooperation, «Action de Carême» and «Pain pour le Prochain, to the director whose film best reflects the working criteria of the two institutions in the field of North-South cooperation.
The ecumenical Jury of the 18th Fribourg International Film Festival is composed of:
Mrs Anne-Marie Gneist (president of the jury, Switzerland)
Mr Alexis Dembélé (Mali)
Mr Jean Lods (France)
Mr Charles Ridoré (Switzerland)
The AWARD of the Ecumenical Jury goes to:
Días de Santiago
by Josué Méndez, Peru
After three years of war during which he learned only to kill, a man returns to civilian life in Lima. In an original and powerful style that describes the character’s inner world and the terrible social reality all at once, this film recounts a man’s desperate resistance not only to the violence of society, but to his own inner violence as well. The unfolding of the narration shows that this violence is not a fatality.
Synopsis:
"Santiago Roman, a young, 23-year old soldier, is back in Lima after years spent combating Ecuador as well as terrorism and drug trafficking in his own country. He represents a sacrificed generation, which has paid the price of the government’s irresponsibility. Haunted by his war memories, Santiago has to confront a new type of combat: to adapt to civilian life in both hostile and indifferent Lima.
Dias de Santiago immerses us in the complex and sombre meanderings of war and its infernal, seemingly never ending cycle of violence. Alternating black and white sequences with colour images to enhance the film’s realism and its atmosphere of desperation and frustration, the film director creates an unvarnished portrait of life in Lima. He makes the hero’s dismay tangible as well as the way his life now depends on the training he received during his army days, which moulded him into a soldier who is incapable of assuming civilian life. Filming the bitterness, the frustration, the tragedy of this tormented soul, Josué Méndez gives us a pulsating homage to life." (Festival information)
The Ecumenical Jury awards a SPECIAL MENTION to the film
Alf Chahr (A Thousand Months)
by Faouzi Bensaidi, Morocco / France / Belgium
In two hours the film goes through an entire palette of themes of life, with a good dose of tenderness, humanity, humour and enuineness. Moreover, the political and social reality in which the film takes place is perfectly evoked by the director.
Synopsis:
"Taking place in 1981, the film focuses on Mehdi, a young boy living in a mountain village in the Moroccan Atlas. He is waiting for his father who is supposed to return from working in France. At least, this is what his mother and his grandfather tell him. In reality, Mehdi’s father is in prison. At any moment, the child’s mental balance is about to be disturbed…
Faouzi Bensaidi’s experience ranges from theatre specialist and actor to scriptwriter. His first feature film is a perfect combination of all three: classical dramaturgy, almost mechanically linked scenes coming one after the other in perfectly logical order and, last, certain poetry interweaving the shots. All three make this first film a rounded off accomplishment. It is classical by all means, with manifest use of background shots placing the protagonists in a setting reminding us of Greek tragedies. Nevertheless, A Thousand Months is a contemporary work which does not leave out the current political and cultural context in Morocco and certainly does not forget that a film is here to be seen. The comic notes interspersed here and there enhance the story abounding in literary references." (Festival information)
Festival homepage
|
(Extraits)
