Four Nordic docs pick up CPH:DOX Awards

Our Memory Belongs to Us directed by Rami Farah with Final Cut for Real’s CEO and producer Signe Sygne Sørensen, picked up a Special Mention from the main DOX:Award competition programme.

In the film, three previous Syrian activists -Yadan, Odai and Rani – are invited by their friend Farah in a theatre in Paris, to comment on selected footage from the early years of the Syrian uprising, taken by themselves and other activists. A decade later, the men are confronted with past traumas and memories.

The jury said: “We have decided to award a special mention to a film that both challenged and haunted us, a work that expands on a painful tradition of documentaries we have all watched over the last decade. In a space created between viewer and images; in a process which is both performative and therapeutic, trauma is deconstructed and transformed, before our eyes, into camaraderie; intimacy; guilt, failure and despair."

The Syrian/Danish/French/Palestinian film will be broadcast at a later date on DR.

The DOX:Award’s main winning film was the poetic film about exile The Last Shelter by Ousmane Samassekou (France/Mali/South Africa).

In the Nordic:DOX programme, the top winner was the Swedish debut feature by director/composer Nina Hobert Julia & I, a coming of age portrait of the director and her friend Julia.

“Shot over a period of a few years, this personal and brave film is both a portrait and self-portrait of two memorable characters struggling with inner turmoils and the place they’re expected to occupy in society,” said the jury.

The same jury gave out its Special Mention prize to the Danish film He’s My Brother by Cille Hannibal and Christine Hanberg for its “deeply humanistic approach”.

The co-directors have followed a family as they care for Peter (31), born without the ability to hear, see or speak. “This moving film distinguishes itself by its very personal nature and its capacity to make us aware of the daily struggles a family can face in such a situation,” said the jury. The film is sold internationally by Cinephil.

Meanwhile the Politiken Danish:DOX Award was handed out to the Danish film Dark Blossom by Frigge Fri, about Goth trio Josephine, Christian and Jay, as they fight to control their inner demons, and try to create a space for themselves in a prejudiced small town community.

“This year’s winner continues a strong tradition of going to the suburbs or countryside and digging into a subculture and then following it intimately…Without forcing it, it captures something soft and true and most importantly it tells it with a playful and forceful visuality,” said the jury. Reservoir Docs handles world sales.

Elsewhere, the F:ACT award went to When a City Rises (Hong Kong), with All Light, Everywhere (US), picking up a Special Mention.

The NEXT:WAVE award went to You & I (Indonesia), with a Special Mention going to Holgut (Belgium).

The NEW:VISION award went to All of Your Stars are But Dust on My Shoes (Lebanon), with a Special Mention awarded to Listen to the Beast of Our Images (France).

All competing films will be screened in selected Danish cinemas between May 6-12.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award went to the project Tata/Father by Radu Ciorniciuc and Lina Vdovîi (Romania/Itay/Germany).