ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

This award consisting of CHF 5'000 is conferred jointly by two institutions of the churches working in development cooperation, “Action de Carême” (catholique) and “Bread for All” (protestant), to the director whose film best reflects the working criteria of the two institutions in the field of North-South cooperation.

The members of the Ecumenical Jury of the 21st Fribourg International Film Festival are:

Hilde Van Liempt, Belgium (President)
Arnaud Bénureau (France)
Myriam Bouverat (Switzerland)
Trudie Joras (Germany)

This Award goes to

Le Cercle des noyés/The Drowned Men
by Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd, Belgium/France 2007

For the director’s desire to bring to light lesser known subjects often ignored. For the voice given to black intellectuals affirming their rightful place in Mauritanian society. For the description of a forgotten past or a past “to forget”, fashioned in black and white silent images. In an uncomplicated style and with a respectful distance which always places the individual at the centre of his work, the director resuscitates those that the government attempted to strip of their humanity in the late 1980’s.

A Commendation goes to

Junun/Dementia
by Fadhel Jaibl, Tunisia 2006

for its radical form and its literary force in service of a no holds barred critique of the contradiction of Tunisian politics.