Award Recipients: Jury Comments
Prizes for the International Competition
- Jury: Karel Vachek (President), Nurith Aviv, Garin Nugroho, Wu Wenguang, Yoshimasu Gozo
Jury Statement
This was an international jury with different backgrounds and countries working with a very varied lineup of films. We discussed for seven hours. No blood was shed. We are expecting the same for the future world.
• The Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize (The Grand Prize)
Encirclement—Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy- CANADA / 2008 / French, English / B&W / Video / 160 min
Dir: Richard Brouillette
The Grand Prize goes to a brave film which is a collection of ideas put together through intelligent editing. There are no objects or events, only people who are thinking. This is a celebration of thinking at this time when ideologies are ending and new multi-dimensional expectations are here.
• The Mayor’s Prize (Prize of Excellence)
Oblivion- THE NETHERLANDS, GERMANY / 2008 / Spanish / Color / Video / 93 min
Dir: Heddy Honigmann
It is an outstanding achievement for Heddy Honigmann’s Oblivion to win the YIDFF Mayor’s Prize. In Lima, Peru, in South America, we meet a restaurant bartender, a mother and daughter who taste frog juice in order to strengthen memory. . . . Through a truly delicate and sophisticated gesture, Heddy Honigmann hands to us what is at the core of real ordinary people’s hearts, something that is unseen and in the process of generation. She is a most rare filmmaker, who projected “things that are about to be forgotten”—the dirt or dust that falls upon color film stock and delivered this to our eyes. I venture to call her a “miraculous filmmaker.” Together with you all, I extend my thanks and respect to Heddy Honigmann for something newly born. Heddy Honigmann, thank you.
• Award of Excellence
Z32- ISRAEL, FRANCE / 2008 / Hebrew / Color / 35mm / 85 min
Dir: Avi Mograbi
With the courage to pursue a quest to truths, the filmmaker chose a method which is filled with insight and investigates a truth which is hidden.
• Award of Excellence
The Fortress- SWITZERLAND / 2008 / French, Others / Color / 35mm / 105 min
Dir: Fernand Melgar
The filmmaker selected a convincing position from where to capture a location, and casts a cool and compassionate gaze upon the moment that the fate of a person is decided.
• Special Prize
Japan: A Story of Love and Hate- UK, JAPAN / 2009 / English, Japanese / Color / Video / 110 min
Dir: Sean McAllister
The film gives a unique point of view about the mental depression, loneliness and the value of communication in the midst of economic and social conditions in Japan, in an entertaining way.
New Asian Currents Awards
- Jury: Shabnam Virmani, Oki Hiroyuki
• Ogawa Shinsuke Prize
American Alley- KOREA / 2008 / Korean, English / Color / Video / 90 min
Dir: Kim Dong-ryung
American Alley is unblinkingly honest, almost visceral in its portrayal of the pain and loneliness of these women’s lives. Yet it shows us with heartwarming solidarity the courage and resilience of their spirit. It uncovers their always almost hopeless search for love, with a visual craft that is poetic and poignant.
• Award of Excellence
Bilal- INDIA / 2008 / Bengali / Color / Video / 88 min
Dir: Sourav Sarangi
Bilal provokes both discomfort and empathy in a vivid and intimate portrayal of the life of a Muslim child, his blind parents, their neighborhood and community in the city of Kolkata. With a strong and assured visual technique, the film looks very deep and with great warmth.
• Award of Excellence
This is Lebanon- LEBANON / 2008 / Arabic, French / Color / Video / 58 min
Dir: Eliane Raheb
This is Lebanon has a spirit of urgency and interrogation. With courage and honesty the filmmaker interrogates her country, her community, her family and herself, weaving a fierce connection between the personal and the political.
• Special Mention
Spiral Staircase of Harbin- JAPAN / 2008 / Chinese / Color / Video / 109 min
Dir: Ji Dan
Spiral Staircase of Harbin is a powerful, tense and nuanced examination of two families living amidst the pressures of urban society. The film deftly uncovers the suffocation and the imminent sense of failure that stalks mid-life, which begins to spin us in spiral circles of quiet desperation.
• Special Mention
Ximaojia Universe- CHINA / 2009 / Chinese / Color / Video / 76 min
Dir: Mao Chenyu
Ximaojia Universe has the seeds of a powerful idea. The film process attempts to activate the memories of a community by excavating tradition, while re-inserting them in the ever-present today.
Citizens’ Prizes
- Japan: A Story of Love and Hate
- UK, JAPAN / 2009 / English, Japanese / Color / Video / 110 min
Dir: Sean McAllister
Yuri—About Loving- GERMANY / 2008 / Japanese / Color / Video / 64 min
Dir: Azuma Mieko
Community Cinema Award