International competition [go]

What is the Portuguese Documentary Like? [go]

Focus on Spain [go]

Understanding the Middle East [go]

Special Sessions [go]

International competition

feature films

10th district court, moments of trials
105’. France. 2004, Raymond Depardon
From May to July, Raymond Depardon and his team were granted special permission to film the hearings of a Paris court dealing with misdemeanors. Ten years after Delits flagrants, Raymond Depardon went back before the judge to bring us this new documentary which offers a unique insight into the workings of the judicial machine.
From a straight drunk driving summons to the previous night’s arrests, 10th District court, moments of trials plunges us into the everyday affairs of a busy local courtroom. Twelve cases, twelve stories of men and women who found suddenly themselves on the wrong side of the law…
Cannes 2004 Selection Officielle hors competition

bright leaves
107’. EUA. 2003. Ross McElwee
A journey taken across the social, economic, and psychological tobacco terrain of North Carolina by a native Carolinian whose great-grandfather created the famous brand of tobacco known as "Bull Durham." "Bright Leaves" is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. It's about loss and preservation, addiction and denial. And it's about filmmaking as the filmmaker fences with the legacy of an obscure Hollywood melodrama based on his great-grandfather's life. "Bright Leaves" explores the notion of legacy - what one generation passes down to the next.
Cannes 2004 Selection Officielle hors competition

checkpoint
80’.Israel.2003, real.Yoav Shamir
The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been under Israeli Military authority since 1967. Over three million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation. When travelling from one village or city to another to go to work, to visit relatives, or to get medical treatment, they must pass through Israeli checkpoints. These checkpoints, essentially the first points of contact between the two people, have an enormous significance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From 2001 to 2003, Director Yoav Shamir filmed at these checkpoints. A chilling look at the destructive impact of the occupation on both societies.
VPRO – Joris Ivens Award – IDFA – International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, 2003
Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Feature
San Francisco International Film Festival, USA April, 2004
Best International Documentary Feature
Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada April 2004
Special Documentary Award
DOKFEST – Munich International Documentary Festival, Germany May 2004
Cinematography Award
Doc Aviv - Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, Israel – April 2004
Special Mention of the Jury for Documentary Features
First Prize for Innovative Photography
Documenta Madrid – Madrid International Documentary Festival, Spain May 2004
Best Documentary Award

the city beautiful
78’. India. 2003, Rahul Roy
Sunder Nagri (Beautiful City) is a small working class colony on the outskirts of Delhi. Most families residing here come from a community of weavers. The last ten years have seen a gradual disintegration of the handloom tradition of this community under globalisation. The families have to cope with change as well as reinvent themselves to eke out a living. The City Beautiful is the story of two families struggling to make sense of a world, which keeps pushing them to the margins.
Le Prix international de la Scam at Cinema Du Réel
Second Prize at Jeevika Documentary Festival

death squadrons, the French school
60’. France. 2003, Marie-Monique Robin
When, in 1975, the dictatorial governments of South America established Operation Condor, a supranational criminal organisation, whose mission was the extermination of all political opponents, both in their own countries and abroad, little was said about the involvement of the French military. For the first time ever, the generals involved in this secret organisation speak out in front of the (sometimes hidden) camera describing the torture techniques, the airplane flights over the Atlantic and the interrogation sessions learnt in the 1960’s and 70’s from French army instructors.

fruitful summer
147’. China. 2003, Guo Jing e Ke Dingding
Wang Xiaoshen is a Shanghai girl, born in April 1987. She lived with her father after her parents divorced when she was ten years old. Her father abandoned her and their home after selling all of their property to escape from a huge debt he owed. This was in 1998, and he has never reappeared in her life since then. Abandonnée par son père et repoussée par sa mère qui s’est remariée, l’adolescente Wang Xiaoshen se retrouve, après le décès de son grand-père, sous la garde temporaire de Zhu, la responsable du Comité de quartier. Un procès s’engage…

corn in the parliament
85’. Switzerland. 2003. Jean-Stéphane Bron
Corn in Parliament is a vertiginous journey down the corridors of the Federal Parliament building in Bern, Switzerland. Constructed as a feature film, it follows the adventures of a parliamentary committee established to create a bill on genetic engineering. This political thriller reveals both sides of the coin, namely that of those who have invested, economic interests and of those who fear the negative effects of this revolutionary technology. Clearly illustrating the limits of the system, the film functions as a portrait of the human mediocrity in contemporary democratic power.
Swiss Awards 2004 - best documentary
Festival International de Cinema de Locarno, Piazza Grande selection living together.

justice
100’. The Netherlands. 2004, Maria Ramos
In Justiça, Maria Ramos puts a camera where many Brazilians have never been - a criminal courtroom in Rio de Janeiro, following the daily routine of several characters. With her options clear, and unobscured by her choice for sobriety and simplicity, Maria Ramos makes it evident that justice is a long way from being impartial. How and for whom the judicial system works for is the fundamental question dealt in this film, without providing any definite answers or making preconceived judgements.
Grand prix for the Best Documenty, Visions du Reél, Nyon, Suiça 2004

landscape
60’. Germany/ Russia. 2003, Serguej Loznitsa
Winter. A bus stop in a small Russian town. People are waiting for the bus. They tell us about their lives. Listening to snatches of their conversations gives us a glimpse of the world they inhabit. Space, people, and their way of thinking melt together in a continuous fluid shot.
Int. Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film 2003 (Award for Best Camera Work)

the house of saud
103’. France. 2004, Jihan El Tahri
After September 11th, the world realized how little it knew about Saudi Arabia; a country ruled for more than a century by one royal family. The al-Sauds have managed to hold onto their power by maintaining the precarious balance between Islam and modernity on which the survival of this oil-producing state depends. The House of Saud retraces the recent history of the kingdom and examines how the country has changed over the century: Islam, oil, relations with the USA and the Palestinian question.

Wall
95’. France / Israel. 2004, Simone Bitton
Cinematic meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the filmmaker blurs the lines of hatred by asserting her double identity as Jew and Arab. The film follows the separation fence that is destroying one of the most historically significant landscapes in the world, while imprisoning one people and enclosing the other. On the building site of this mad wall, daily utterances and holy chants, in Hebrew and in Arabic, defy the discourses of war, passing through the deafening noise of bulldozers.
Cannes 2004: "Directors forfnight", Marseille: Grand Prize, Best Documentary
Jerusalem: Grand Prize, Best Documentary
Pesaro, Italy: Grand Prize, Best Film
Melbourne, Australia: Official Selection (Great Reviews)

in the garden of the world
65’. Portugal/France. 2004, Maya Rosa
Considered one of the poorest regions in Europe, the Alentejo was also known as Portugal’s granary: an area divided up among few big landowners. Nowadays, despite some progress and signs of wealth, the immense plain is gradually becoming even more deserted. How do its inhabitants face the gradual loss of their identity? Men and women, former agricultural workers, recall the times of misery before the revolution when hunger, sun and poetry were their only belongings.

prisoner of the iron bars
123’. Brazil. 2003, Paulo Sacramento
Collective portrait of the notorious Brazilian House of Detention, Carandiru - a prison demolished in the aftermath of a riot in which 111 prisoners were shot and killed by shock troops brought in to restore order. A year before its demoliton, Paulo Sacramento and his team were given privileged access to the lives of the institution’s 7,500 inmates, setting up video courses and encouraging inmates to participate in this intimate portrait of what was once the biggest prison in Latin America.

S21, the Khmer Rouge killing machine
105’. France/Cambodja.2003, Rithy Panh
For several years now Cambodian society has been stirred up by the possibility that those responsible for the Khmer Rouge genocide could be brought to trial. Rithy Panh has undertaken a film based on confronting the memories of victims who managed to escape with those of their former torturers. For more than two years he has conducted an investigation to find the people involved, and to persuade them to meet at Tuol Sleng, the torture centre in Phnom Penh where, 25 years ago, some of them were plunged into horrifying everyday reality, and others served the machinery of programmed dehumanisation and extermination.
Festival de Cannes - Prix François Chalais
Urti - Médaille d’Argent
Festival de Copenhagen - Grand Prix Spécial du Jury
Prix Italia - Catégorie : « Culturel et d’intérêt général »
Human rights Film Festival – Film Award
Yamagata Film Festival – Runner-up Prize
Leipzig Film Festival – Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI PRIZE) – Le Golden dove
Festival de Valladolid – Top Prize
Prix Européen du Cinema – Berlin - Prix du meilleur documentaire européen : Prix Arte 2003
28th Hong Kong International Film Festival -Humanitarian Award
Association Prix Albert Londres - Prix Albert Londres Audiovisuel
One World Media Awards - The International Premier Award

santa liberdade
87’. Spain. 2004, Margarita Ledo Andión
1961: the ocean liner SANTA MARIA which runs between Venezuela and Galicia is taken by a group of the DRIL – Iberian Revolutionary Liberation Front – flying the flag of resistance to Franco and Salazar dictatorships. For thirteen days and thirteen nights, the vessel changes its name to SANTA LIBERDADE and becomes the scene of some crucial events of the century. Three members of the group meet each other for the first time since the event in this film.

at school
60’. Italy. 2003, Leonardo di Costanzo
For one year Leonardo Di Costanzo has filmed students and teachers life in a secondary school at Naples suburbs. The public school is the only sign of the State presence in a sort of no men’s land, where public spirit has disapeared. Teachers’ job is not only to teach, but above all to educate, which is harder and not always recognised by the society. Here, teachers’ primary difficulty is persuading students to remain at school. This film is a declaration of love for these boys and girls who live in these difficulties, for teachers’ work and for public school.
First Prize - Filmmaker Film Festival, Milão 2003
Prix Egli Film &Video AG - Visions du Réel – Documentary International film Festival, Nyon 2004
Mention Prix des bibliothèques - 26th International Festival Cinéma du Réel
Mention sud-est Sicilia special Prize, 2004
Mention Bianco Film Festival for films on social issues, Perugia 2004

short films

detail
8’. Israel. 2004, Avi Mograbi
An armoured vehicle, a cloud of dust, a bleeding woman, a megaphone, an ambulance, a woman with two children, another ambulance, a weeping girl, a man with white hair, a gust of wind, a reporter, an armoured vehicle, a detail of a bigger picture.

me myself and the universe
14’. Germany. 2003, Hajo Schomerus
Man and gravity: a classical tragedy. The individual's struggle with himself and the overwhelmingly complex structure of the universe. A stewardess, an excavator driver, a furniture salesman and a millionaire speak about one subject they dedicate themselves to with a passion. They demonstrate which precautions they take so that the events of life don't turn into accidents. Seat belts, remote controls, enlarged photocopies and a grave for a million. They all carry the treacheries of the universe.
Audience Appreciation Award Hamburg 2003
Audience Award Munich “Bunter Hund” 2003
Special Jury Award Uppsala
Audience Award Bremen & Bremen Critics Choice 2003
German Critics' Award 2003 for Best German Short Film 2003
German Up in Coming Award – Sehsüchte Postdam 2004
Nominated for the FFA Short Tiger Award 2004

jose manuel, the mule and the televisor set
14’. Cuba. 2003, Elsa Cornevin
Back at home, José Manuel, a farm labourer from Sierra Maestra in Cuba, is watching a television interview he gave about his work when suddenly there is a power cut. Goaded by frustration, he decides to continue the programme, but this time he interviews the local people; equipped only with his mule and an old television set.

The Wheel
23’. Bielorussia. 2003, Victor Asliuk.
A village where almost only old people live and which contains one solitary well. A mobile shop visits once a week. The village has also one young family with a baby.

looking through inside
28’. Portugal. 2003, Christine Reeh
Débora is six years old and has been completely blind from birth. She lives in the Alentejo and has no access to special education for the blind. Her family and school improvise as best they can. Mr. Cardoso, an older Alentejano who is also blind, sometimes looks after Débora while her mother is at work. He is the only one who introduces her to things specifically intended for the blind. Débora is a little girl furious with the world outside because she can’t make sense of it, and still has many fears to conquer. She lives in her own world of make-believe: she spends her days listening to music and inventing stories.

torn skin
56’. France . 2003, Julien Samani
This is the story of five shark fishermen off the coast of Ireland. It’s not really a story, it’s a portrait of these five men who abandon their families to live for a while, cut off from everything and adrift in time. Through the violence of the hunt and their lone confrontation with the sea they attempt to return to a more primitive existence.
Cinco pescadores de tubarões deixam regularmente as suas famílias e descobrem no mar da Irlanda uma outra dimensão da sua própria animalidade. A bordo do navio, a vida e a morte têm outro significado.
1st Prize-Regards Neuf, Nyon Film Festival 2004
Grand Prix – Rencontres du Moyen Métrage de Brive 2004

the little pianist
6’. Spain. 2004, Silvia Turchin
The Little Pianist explores the life of a frog marionette that plays piano on the streets of Barcelona. What qualities does a marionette possess to make its audience forget – albeit fleetingly – this frenetic modern-day life? To take them back through their memories and recall their dreams? In this documentary, almost narrated by the frog’s creator, the presence of the marionette predominates, making the puppeteer virtually invisible.

Sylvia Kristel – Paris
40’. Belgium. 2003, Manon de Boer
For the film ‘Sylvia Kristel - Paris’ I selected two monologues on Paris, recorded at an interval of one year. Kristel’s stories wander through some of the key points in her life, fluidly forming and reforming the narrative elements. The city itself is rarely described directly. She speaks of her films, her love-affairs and how these have influenced her life’s trajectory. The cities are co-ordinates to which her memories move to, find themselves within and move away from. This finds a parallel in the image. (Manon de Boer).

grandad’s waking dream
46’. Finland. 2003, Hajo Schomerus
Granddad, Uuno Inkinen, served as a medical orderly close to the front line during W.W.II. The hundreds of casualties each day left an indelible mark on the young man’s soul. Grandma has listened to granddad’s stories for over sixty years. The film follows their life nowadays; the war is still very much part of their present, yet the serious weight of it is tempered by humour. Grandpa processes his war trauma by painting and writing a book. Soon he will be 89. Grandpa has a mission: he must tell the new generation what war is really like.

days under
24’. Germany. 2003, Jiska Rickels
A journey into an unknown world, deep underground. An impressionistic documentary which takes you to a world where colours vanish, sounds distort, and machines make music. A world of great dangers, where each human life is put in the hands of Holy Barbara to get safely back up again. This coal-mine is hell and heaven at the same time. Its beauty and fellowship are not to catch in words; you have to undertake this journey to catch a glimpse of this world that's about to disappear.
Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht, Holanda, Setembro 2003: Price of City Utrecht, for the most promising new filmmaker (Jisha Rickels), Tuschinski Award, price for the best student graduation film, awarded by the Dutch association of journalists, Nomination for the “Golden Calf” for best short Documentary of the year.
International Festival of Filmschools, Munique, Alemanha, Novembro 2003: Camera Student Award for the Best Camera Work, awarded by the magazine “Film & TV Cameraman.
Taipe Film Festival – Golden Lion Award Student Competition, 2004
Message to Man International Film Festival, São Petersburgo, Rússia, Junho 2004: Selection – Debut International Competition, Winner Centaur Award.

in the dark
40’. Russia / Finland. 2004, Sergey Dvortsevoy
Moscow. A densely populated district on the outskirts. An 80-year-old man has lost his sight. He lives in a small apartment with a white cat. The man wants to do something useful so he makes shopping bags from nets. His cat keeps messing things up; every day there is a continual battle between the two of them. But the cat, as well as being the enemy, is the man's only friend. The man listens to the sounds of the Moscow streets that reach him through the window. He also goes outside and tries to give people his bags, free of charge. Nobody wants them, they all have plastic bags.

ydessa, the bears etc.
44’. France 2004, Agnès Varda
Two huge exhibition rooms showing hundreds of old photographs. There’s a teddy bear in each of the pictures. Who put this together and why?

[TOPO]

the architect and the old city
72’. Portugal 2004, Catarina Alves Costa
Álvaro Siza, a famous visionary Portuguese architect, is called to coordinate the rehabilitation of the monuments and architectonic heritage of Cidade Velha (Old Village), in Santiago, one of the African Islands in Cape Vert. This project creates great expectations amongst the local population, who envisages it as a way of improving their life quality. The film shows the relationship and conflict between these two worlds, two cultures, with different life concepts and ideas of what modernity and progress are…
Gottingen International Film Festival, Gottingen, Alemanha
XVIII Parnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Parnu, Estónia
XII International Festival of Ethnographical film, Sardegna ,Itália
XI Caminhos do Cinema Português, Coimbra (Portugal) – Prémio do Público.

autografia
103’. Portugal 2004, Miguel Gonçalves Mendes
The poet and painter Mário Cesariny tells us his life, his route and his individuality. The conversations take place mainly in his bedroom, presently the basis for his creation and intimacy. It is there that everything that was not lost, resists. His poem autography leads us in the discovery of the creator: satirical, provocative, political and surrealistic.

Buenos Aires, zero hour
69’. Portugal.2004, José Barahona
Colónia do Sacramento is a Uruguayan city founded by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century. Rumours said that a descended from its founders was still living there. Setting out in search for this man, the film follows his trail into the vast metropolis of Buenos Aires, revealing its scars, memories and characters.

between two villages
94’. Suitzerland/ Portugal.2003. Muriel Jaquerod and Eduardo Saraiva Pereira
“Between two villages” tells the story of Aldeia da Luz, population 330, bound to disappear with the construction of the Alqueva dam in the south of Portugal. A new village is being built a few kilometres away as a compensation for the population. The film focuses on the daily life of Aldeia da Luz, with its strong rural tradition and its prospect for change. From the negotiations to the construction of the new houses, the film shows how the authorities and the population try to recreate the village’s identity. The situation of the village of Aldeia da Luz reflects a mutating society.
9º Festival “Visions du Réel”, Nyon, Suiça
26º Festival “Cinéma du Réel” - Market screenings, Paris, França
Prémio de Qualidade/Création audiovisuelle 2003 pelo Estado de Genebra, Suiça
Prémio D. Quixote pela Federação Internacional de Cine-Clubes no XI Festival “Caminhos do Cinema Português”

Evening star
24’. Portugal. 2004, Madalena Miranda
Dreams, fantasies, and contradictions of a charismatic housewife, living in the Lisbon surroundings. After this documentary we finally understand how to combine the love for Che Guevara with the most simple house keeper duties…

the war of iraque
26’. Portugal. 2004, Leonor Areal
A class of 9-year-old children is making an animated movie, whose chosen theme is “War on Iraq”. The protagonists are the same we see in TV : George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Saddam, and Bin Laden. The story is the product of children’s imagination and of their free expression.

I love you… me neither
80’. França. 2004. Maria de Medeiros
As soon as we take an interest in the stormy relationship between artists and critics, the anecdotes are inexhaustible. Artists rarely forget that murderous little sentence that has marked them for life. As for the critics, they are sometimes confronted with delicate, if not perilous situations. But a critique can be good too, it can change an artist’s life, making them feel they have been understood, loved, penetrated. Curiously, the relationship between an artist and a critic, although unavoidably public, is always intimate. In short, passion is in the air.
Festival Films du monde de Montréal (2004)
Festival Internacional de Cinema de San Sebastian – Secção “Horizontes” (2004)

malmequer, bem-me-quer ou o diário de uma encomenda
51’. Portugal/France. 2004, Catarina Mourão
Malmequer, bem-me-quer ou o diário de uma encomenda is a film about the documentary making process, but it’s above all a flash-back diary of the director’s experience in confrontation with the film that was ordered to her by the Television. The film raises several issues: the way television crystallises stereotypes, the difficulties or the impossibility to represent a more collective identity, the director’s doubts representing a reality and turning a person into a character, and finally the indefinition of borders between reality and fiction, and the mise en scène limits.

marrabenta stories
52’. Portugal. 2003, Karen Boswall
Marrabenta stories is a film about five old musicians from Mozambique. The old men are stars of Marrabenta, a popular music style with a story that stretches back to the 1950’s and 60’s when Mozambique’s capital Lourenço Marques was in its heyday. The “Old Glories” as they are affectionately called by their fans, still live hand to mouth in Maputo. They survive much as they have done over the last fifty years, by singing songs that describe the sad and funny details of their lives. When we listen to the their personal stories, it’s the recent history of an entire country that appears before our eyes.

the square
52’. Portugal. 2004, Luís Alves de Matos
In a quarter of the east side of Lisbon (Chelas), a square is being repaired for over three years. In this place, thought to be pink, lives a depressed community, focused in their daily life, but more and more indifferent to the works on the square. The kinder garden and the market, that the people wish for, do not seem to be part of the project. And days go by…

[TOPO]

attacking the skies
96’. Spain. 1996, José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo
Behind the death of Trotsky and the story of his assassin, Ramón Mercader, we discover lives spent passionately and to excess: lives surrounded by betrayal and lies. We traverse the century in the company of people who renounce class, family, friends and country as they attempt to take charge of their own destiny. Even though it proves fatal and cruelly futile.
Festival Internacional de Cinema de San Sebastián, Espanha
San Francisco International Film Festival, EUA
Nomeação à melhor montagem nos prémios Goya 1997, Espanha
Prémio Especial de Cinema, Prémios Ondas 1997, Espanha
II Prémio Tiempo de Historia. 41 Seminci, Valladolid, Espanha
Premio Especial del Jurado. Festival de Cine de Bogotá, Colômbia

Balseros
120’. Spain 2002, Carles Bosch and Josep Mª Domènech
In the summer of 1994, a team of television reporters filmed and interviewed seven Cubans and their families in the days leading up to a risky enterprise –their quest to reach the United States by sea to escape the economic woes that beset their country. How the lives of those who reached the United States and those of their families who stayed behind in Cuba evolve over a seven-year period is recorded in detail. This is the story of some true survivors of our times, adrift between two worlds.
27th Toronto International Film Festival, Septiembre 2002
IDFA, International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam 2002, Noviembre
2003 Sundance Film Festival, Febrero-Marzo 2003
Premios Goya, Nominado a Mejor Documental 2003
8º Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma à Paris, Novembro - Prémio do Público
32 Edición, Festival de cine de Alcalá de Henares, Novembro - Prémio do Público
Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine 2002, México, Novembro - Prémio do Júri: Melhor Documentário en Espanhol.
24º Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, La Habana, Dic 2002 - Prémio Melhor Documentário Estrangeiro e Prémio Documentário Memória
Festival Internacional de Cine de Santo Domingo, Fevreiro 2003 - Prémio Especial do Júri
2003 Miami International Film Festival, Fevreiro-Março - Prémio do Público
Docaviv. Tel-Aviv International Documentary Film Festival 2003. Primer Premio.
Premio Cartelera Turia 2003 ao Melhor Documentário.
Premio Jose Maria Forqué 2003 ao Melhor Documentário espanhol.
Premio Nacional a la Cinematografía, Setembro 2003
Mención Especial Amnesty Award. CPH: DOX Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. Novembro 2003
International Documentary Association Awards (IDA Awards) Dezembro 2003 IDA Distinguished Feature Documentary.

Cravan vs. Cravan
100’. Spain 2002, Isaki Lacuesta
In 1918, the poet and pugilist Arthur Cravan disappeared without trace in the Gulf of Mexico. Now another boxer and artist, the film director Frank Nicotra, has set in motion an investigation that will take him in the mysterious footsteps of Cravan: from Switzerland to Mexico via Paris, London and Barcelona (where he took part in a legendary bout with the world heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson at the Plaza Monumental).
Secção “Gran Angular” e Prémio “Citizen Kane” (SITGES 2002)
Prémio Especial “1.200 Aniversário de Tudela” ao realizador e guionista (Festival opera prima ciudad de Tudela 2002).
Prémio “Sant Jordi de Cinematografia” à melhor obra prima.
Prémio “Victoria” ao melhor novo realizador - Festival de Cinema de Vitoria.
Prémio “Sant Nitrat” à melhor utilização de arquivos (Cinema Rescat).
Prémio Especial do Júri ao melhor documentário – Festival Docupolis 2003.

playing with children
188’. Spain. 2003, Joaquín Jordá.
The story of the Chinese Quarter in Barcelona, from the time of the transition to democracy to the present day, and its resistence to change and conversion to Raval, is juxtaposed with the pedophile case that rocked Barcelona a few years ago because the police and the press implicated so many people. The trial resulted in only two convictions, but many innocent people’s lives were affected forever.

in the back of the world
89’. Spain. 2000, Javier Corcuera
A boy who works to help his family. A woman in jail for speaking her mind. A man about to be executed. Three perspectives, three voices, one story. A film about those who live at the back end of the world.
Sundance Film Festival
Prémio da Crítica Internacional- Festival de Cinema de San Sebastián 2000
Melhor Realizador - Festival de Tudela 2000
Melhor Filme - Festival Internacional de Cinema Illes Balears 2000
Prémio OCIC- Festival de Cinema de Havana 2000
Prémio Alfa e Ómega

monkeys like Becky
94’. Spain 1999. Joaquín Jordá e Nuria Villazan
About seventy years ago a Portuguese neurologist called Egas Moniz attended a conference on psychology in London. There, an American biologist, Dr. Fulton, presented a chimpanzee called Becky, which was a charming animal. He than projected a film in which the same animal appeared as an extremely aggressive beast. Dr. Fulton explained to those who had watched amazed, that he had carried out an ablation of the central lobe of the brain and that the aggressive animal had turned into a cuddly monkey. Professor Egas Moniz goes back to Portugal determined to use this therapy on schizophrenics to calm their agitation.
Prémio da Crítica Festival de Sltges

the Basque ball, skin against stone
115’. Spain. 2003, Julio Medem.
This is a journey through the mythical land of the Basques; its unique language and traditions and its intricate and painful political reality. Through the rigorous editing of nearly 100 interviews with some of the more representative figures of Basque life, The Basque Ball gives a voice to politicians, journalists, writers, musicians and victims of terrorism. Julio Medem offers each individual the opportunity to express their thoughts, their feelings and their fears, in the hope that the simple truth in each of them, in dialogue with the others, will take us a step closer to the understanding of a complex reality.
Festival Internacional de Cinema de Sundance 2004
Prémio do Júri de melhor documentário Iberoamericano e Prémio Fipresci de melhor longametragem documentário Iberoameriocano no Festival de Guadalajara (México).
Prémio especial EGEDA de melhor longametragem documentário.
Prémio IBAIA (Associação de Produtores Bascos) à produção mais arriscada.

[TOPO]

wadi grand canyon
90’. France. 2001, Amos Gitai
Amos Gitai returns for the third time to his native Haïfa. Over the years more immigrants have settled in the valley (Wadi); first were Jews from North Africa and Eastern Europe, then also from Ethiopia and Russia, and even Palestinian Arabs expelled from their land. Through three film shoots spaced over ten years we are shown the changes that have taken place in this microcosm of Israeli society. Twenty years after the first film, the place has changed completely. There’s a huge new shopping mall and the building of a whole new city serves as a metaphor for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

wadi, ten years later
97’. France. 1991, Amos Gitai
In Wadi (shot in 1981), Israeli-born filmmaker Amos Gitai presents connections and conflicts among Jews and Arabs living in a valley in his native Haifa; this 1991 video begins with that first documentary and adds material shot a decade later. In the original film, were an Arab man and his Jewish wife, who told Gitai they managed to get along because humans just aren't that different. But ten years later the Jewish woman explains with lonely dignity that her husband was given an ultimatum by his family and "persuaded" her to leave him.

how I learned to overcome my fear and love Arik Sharon
61’. Israel. 1997, Avi Mograbi
With the Israeli '96 election campaign coming up, Avi Mograbi sets out to make a documentary about Arik (Ariel) Sharon. Having refused, for moral and political reasons, to serve in the '82 Lebanon war, initiated by the then-minister of defence Sharon, Mograbi has strong feelings about him. However, to his surprise, during the course of making the film he finds Sharon extremely likable. As the campaign progresses, Mograbi sets aside his leftist political beliefs and finds himself, at the end, in a bizarre situation, dancing and singing at a right wing rally with orthodox religious Jews. An ironic and funny "fictitious documentary".
Runner Up Prize - Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Berlin International film festival

happy birthday, Mr. Mograbi
77’. Israel. 1999, Avi Mograbi
There are three parallel stories in this film. First, Avi Mograbi is hired by a TV producer to make a film about the celebrations surrounding Israel's 50th anniversary. In the meantime, a Palestinian film-producer from the Palestinian Authority gets in touch with him. The Palestinians, too, mark the 50th anniversary - of the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. But Mograbi also tells the camera a story about himself, a story involving the purchase of a plot of land on the outskirts of the city, on which he intends to build a small house and so improve his quality of life and live the Israeli Dream.
World premiere - Berlin International Film Festival - International Forum, 1999
Runner Up Prize - Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Doc-Aviv Film Festival - Tel Aviv - Distinguished Filmmaker Award
Hampton International Film Festival - Conflict and Resolution award
Michael Moore Award for best documentary – Ann Arbor Film Festival
Special Mention in the international competition - Festival of New Film – Split
Second prize award - Jewish Identity category - Judah Magnes Museum's Jewish Video Competition
Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival - Special mention NETPAC jury.

newstime
59’. Palestine. 2001, Azza al-Hassan
A Palestinian filmmaker living in Ramallah decides to film everyday life: the love story that unfolds between her landlord and his wife. Yet during filming, fighter-jets start shelling and the couple decide to escape the town leaving the filmmaker with an unfinished film. So she turns her attention to four boys who spend their time practising how to throw stones in order to defend themselves. As the political situation worsens, the characters find their everyday lives being taken over by political events…
Prémio especial do Júri no Festival de Cinema Árabe Independente em Qatar, 2001.
Prémio British Grision ao Best newcomer, 2002

the arab dream
30’. Palestine/France. 1998, Elia Suleiman
Filmed in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Ramallah, The Arab Dream was commissioned by Arte-TV as part of the "End of the Millennium" series. In this beautiful and profound documentary the filmmaker meditates on his own struggle to safeguard an aesthetic territory in a place where hope is dwindling and the spirit of fascism haunts everyday life.

cyber Palestine
16’. Palestine. 2000, Elia Suleiman
Cyber Palestine is the tale of a modern day Mary and Joseph, two Palestinian returnees living in Gaza, and their tribulation under the Israeli occupation. Coming from the land of the Bible, this tragi-comic tale brings surprising revelations… Cyber Palestine was commissioned by the Bethlehem 2000 Project of the Palestinian National Authority as part of the millennium celebrations in Bethlehem.
International Film Festival, Cannes 2001 – Quinzaine des réalisateurs

Il y a tant de choses à raconter
49’. France. 1997, Omar Amiralay
A few months before the death of the Syrian dramatist, Saadallah Wannous, his old friend Omar Amiralay hears his testimony. It is the memory of a whole generation; that of the Arab-Israeli conflict that runs through the film. The final words of the dying writer carry incredible weight. And so does his disillusionment. We see mount Cassioun, crushed by the Damascene light, in the drops of serum slowly coursing into the veins of a sick man.
Grand-Prix do Institut du Monde Arabe de longa metragem documentário – 4e Biennale des Cinémas Arabes, Paris
Wadi ten years later
97’. França. 1991, real. Amos Gitai
Sentimentos contraditórios e tensões de um casal israelo-palestiniano de Wadi. As primeiras imagens do casal, em 1981, são um exemplo de resistência íntima ao conflito... Dez anos depois, o retrato é totalmente diferente.
Grande Prémio do XXXIIº Festival dei Popoli, Florewnça, Itália, 1992

canticle of stones
100’. Belgium. 1990, Michel Khleifi
Story of two Palestinians who fall in love during the sixties. Due to the political climate, their relationship is denied its full expression when he is condemned to life imprisonment for acts of resistance against the Israelis, and she emigrates to America to overcome her sorrow. Eighteen years later, they meet at the height of the Intifada. She is now a scholar and is in Jerusalem to research the meaning of sacrifice in Palestinian society, only to find him liberated and working for an agricultural aid organisation. Their feelings for each other are rekindled but time has not made things any easier.
Cannes - 1990 - Selecção Oficial - Un Certain Regard.
Yamagata, Japan, Prémio Especial da crítica.
Valência F.F, Prémio de Prata.

live from Palestine
16’. Palestine. 2000, Elia Suleiman
Through the radio station "Voice of Palestine", its correspondents and its general manager, Basim Abu Sumiah, this film deals with the issue of Palestinian media during this period and how it faces Israeli and western media. The film follows live events inside and outside the station, sticking to the truth in its realistic portrayal of the Palestinian situation, and how the station and its crew report and broadcast the news.
International Film Festival, Cannes 2001 – Quinzaine des réalisateurs

un plat de sardines ou la première fois que j’ai entendu parler d’Israël.
17’. France. 1998, Omar Amiralay
In the beginning there was… a plate of sardines. It was the first time I’d heard of Israel. I was at my aunt’s house in a working class part of old Beirut. It was a scorching hot day in the summer of 1950; I was six years old and the State of Israel barely two.
Menção Especial do Júri Vídeo – Locarno, 1999

Ma’loul celebrates it’s destruction
33’. Belgium. 1985, Michel Khleifi
Ma’loul is a Palestinian village in Galilee. In 1948 it was destroyed by the Israeli armed forces and its inhabitants were expelled either to Lebanon or to the neighbouring town of Nazareth. Ever since, the former inhabitants of Ma’loul have only been allowed to visit it once a year (on the anniversary of Israel’s independence) and have developed the tradition of organising a picnic on this day on the very site of the destroyed village.

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Special Sessions

Abel Ferrara: not guilty
80’. France. 2003, Rafi Pitts
For the French cinephile series Cinéma de notre temps, Rafi Pitts made an intimate portrait of the American film maker Abel Ferrara. The result is an eccentric road-movie, with the restless Ferrara as a charming, seedy guide leading us through nocturnal New York. Pitts' introverted approach offers all the room Ferrara needs and he has no trouble filling this space with his bigger-than-life personality. We see him quarrel with taxi drivers, start talking frankly to strange women in the street and tell his version of the truth to anyone who wants to hear. But his isolation becomes apparent in an America to which Ferrara does not want to conform.
56 Locarno Film Festival 2003
17th Leeds International Film Festival 2003
6º Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente de Buenos Aires

cinévardaphoto
96’. France. 2004, Agnés Varda
Cinévardaphoto is a trypical composed by three different films building bridges between documentary and photography. Salut les cubains (1963) puts together socialism and cha-cha-cha four years after Fidel Castro’s coming to power, Ulysse (1982) explores the real and the imaginary after a 1954 photo of a Spanish beach. Ydessa, les ours et etc (2004) is the last short documentary of this director (please see international competition).
57º Festival de Cinema de Locarno 2004

give me your hand
117’. The Netherlands. 2003, Heddy Honigmann
Every Sunday night, the "Esquina Habanera" restaurant in New Jersey is transformed into a dance club where exiled Cubans living in the New York area gather to dance to the most sensual of all Cuban music, the rumba. The film's characters -a wild lot of vibrant, sensual immigrants- tell their tales of exile or imprisonment, of loved ones left behind, and describe their homesickness for Cuba. Rafaela, Tony, Leonardo, David and Karim demonstrate their love for dance and explain how the rumba helps them to retain their zest for life in their new country.
Special Jury Mention, Dance on Camera, New York, 2004

Domestic Violence 2
160’. USA. 2002, Frederick Wiseman
Whereas the first Domestic Violence focused primarily on the residents of The Spring in Tampa, Florida, the county’s largest refuge centre for the survivors of domestic violence, this most recent film turns its gaze on the judicial system. Wiseman’s pared down style couldn’t be much simpler: three different courtrooms and their judges, with markedly different approaches, attempt to navigate a way through the tangled lives of the couples who come before them.
26ème Festival International Cinéma du Réel 2004
48th Times London Film Festival
Human Rights Watch international Film Festival

The Five Obstructions
88’. Denmark. 2003, Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth
In 1967 Jorgen Leth made a 13 min. short film called The Perfect Human, a document on human behaviour. In the year 2000, Lars von Trier challenged Leth to make five remakes of this film. Trier put forward obstructions, constraining Leth to re-think the story and the characters of the original film. Playing the naïve anthropologist, Leth attempts to embrace the cunning challenges set forth by the devious and sneaky Trier and must deal with the limitations, commands and prohibitions. It is a game full of traps and vicious turns. The Five Obstructions is an investigative journey into the phenomenon of filmmaking.
Sundance Film Festival, U.S.A., 2004

the world according to Bush (closing ceremony)
92’. France. 2004, William Karel
Who is George W. Bush ? This movie tells about the 1000 days of his presidency, from the 9/11 to the war in Iraq. It shows how is America today and tries to understand how a small group of people, under the influence of the neo-conservatives, took the control of the american foreign policy.
International Documentary FilmFestival Amsterdam, Holanda

the revolution will not be televised (openning session)
74’. Ireland. 2003, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O Briain
On April 11th, 2002, Irish documentarians Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain were in Venezuela, with the intention of making a movie about the nation's democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez, whose support comes mostly from the country's impoverished, who make up 80% of the population. The film took a seriously unexpected turn when the filmmakers found themselves in the heart of a coup d'etat, trapped in the president's palace as Chavez's right-wing oligarchic opposition overthrew the leader. Chavez was able to return to power within 48 hours, buoyed by public support, but this film captures those frightening moments and days in which a nation's political future was fought over using both bullets and manipulation of the media.
Jury Award, Best Documentary, Malaga Int'l Film Festival (Espanha)
Needle Award, Seattle Film Festival (EUA)
Le Prix George du Beau Regard International, Best Documentary,
Best Feature Documentary, Galway Film Fleadh, (Irlanda)
The David Wolper Documentary Film Grand Prize, for Best Documentary, 2003 Wine & Country Film Festival 1st Prize, Best Documentary, The Silver Hugo Award, Chicago International Film Festival, (EUA)
24th Durban International Film Festival, Best Documentary
eThekwini Film Award
'KITE' Award for Best Documentary, 2º Festival Internacional de Cine para la Infancia y la Juventud, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Best Documentary, 16th Seagate Foyle Film Festival (Irlanda do Norte)
'Special Mention' from the International Jury of the
Milagro Award for Best Latino film, Santa Fe Film Festival (EUA) Best Documentary,
International Documentary Awards (IDA’s) (EUA)
Global Television Grand Prix, Banff 2003 Television Festival
Best Social and Political Documentary, Banff 2003 Television Festival
Golden Nymph Award, Monte Carlo
Golden Link Award, EBU European Co-production of the Year
Best Documentary, Prix Italia 2003
Best Documentary, ESB Media Awards
Overall Award for Best Journalism, ESB Media Awards
Best International Documentary, Grierson 2003: The British Documentary Awards
Best Newcomer Award, Grierson 2003: The British Documentary Awards

his master voice
100’. France. 1978, Nicolas Philibert and Gérard Mordillat
Twelve administrators of major French industrial companies face the camera. They talk about strikes, about hierarchy, about the unions, about strikes, about self-management. Bit by bit they draw an image of a future world…

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