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Le 16e Festival International
Signes de Nuit
Paris
4 - 14 octobre, 2018
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AWARD CELEBRATION
Documentary Competition
The 16th International Festival Signes de Nuit
4 - 14 october 2018, Paris
Sunday 14, October, 2018 / 8 pm
Maison du Portugal
Cité internationale
universitaire de Paris
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Long Documentary Competition
Main Award
Women with Gunpowder Earrings
Zanabi ba gusgvarehaye baruti
Reza Farahmand
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FRENCH PREMIERE
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Women with Gunpowder Earrings
Zanabi ba gusgvarehaye baruti Reza Farahmand
Iran
2018 | 01:17:00
Noor Al Helli, an Iraqi female journalist, covers stories about Syrian
and Iraqi women and children in the war against ISIS.
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Jury Statement :
A dramatic and direct testimony giving speach to different parts of
the confict. Reza Farahmand with his courageous camera very close to
protagonists, report us the extreme tension of the front line, the
suffering of the people, and manage to catch in images and talks the
ambiguity in the discours of ISIS supporters.
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Director Statement :
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Short Documentary Competition
Main Award
Rewind Forward
Justin Stoneham
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FRENCH PREMIERE
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Rewind Forward Justin Stoneham
Switzerland
2017 | 00:24:00
All his life, Justin managed to escape his own story. But his past
catches up with him when he finds a box full of old family VHS tapes.
A film that begins as an homage to his deceased father develops into
an attempt to no longer be a stranger to his own mother.
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Jury Statement :
A film at the good distance between sensitivity and realism about
universal issues of family relationships. Justin Stoneham film very
close his mother and, in a voice-over, share with us his reflections
in an introspective way which sound true.
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Director Statement :
My deepest gratitude for this incredible honour!
It feels so surreal. When I started making this film I knew what a
huge responsibility I had towards my family and our story. I was so
concerned that I couldn’t live up to it. Now the story became bigger
than me! Thank you to the Festival, the Jury and the Audience!
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Long Documentary Competition
Signs Award
Srbenka Nebojsa Slijepcevic
Almost Nothing Anna De Manincor / Zimmerfrei |
The Signs Award for Documentary honors films, which express in a surprising way sensible and perturbing aspects of reality. |
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Srbenka Nebojsa Slijepcevic
Croatia
2018 | 01:12:00
During the winter of 1991, Croatia defended itself against the military aggression of neighbouring Serbia. Among the innocent victims of this conflict was Aleksandra Zec, a teenager of Serbian origin, who was hatefully lynched in Zagreb. A generation later, while in Croatian schools, Serbian pupils continue to be taken for the “enemies” of yesterday, Oliver Frlji? adapts “the Zec affair” at the theatre, with Nina, a Serbian, born in 2001, in the title role. In front of Nebojša Slijep?evi?’s camera, the troupe’s rehearsals turn into collective psychotherapy, interspersed by shots of an empty stage haunted by personal accounts that build up in voiceover. Through skilful metatheatre that involves both the troupe’s acting and sense of self as they work on their own memories, distanced by the theatrical device, Srbenka delineates a public space likely to break the cycle of vengeance. Slijep?evi?’s film also constitutes a powerful reflection on one of the possible functions of art: to dry out, metre by metre, the cesspool of hatred fed by the entrepreneurs of ethnic cleansing who continue to act today.
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Jury Statement :
A sharp documentary about a political, divisive theatre play and the
involved human beings, the living and the dead. The filmmaker explores
recent history and renders present subjectivities with sober images
which serves the words of the protagonist in an insightful way.
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Director Statement :
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PARIS PREMIERE
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Almost Nothing
Anna De Manincor / Zimmerfrei
Italy, France, Belgium
2018 / 1:17:00
When we think about science often we focus on the big discoveries: the
Higgs Boson! Gravitational waves! Sometimes maybe we forget about what
happens in between: there’s a bunch of people doing the systematic
work. At the border between Switzerland and France there's a citadel
called CERN, a global community of thousands of people working
together towards a common objective. How can they work for years -
sometimes decades - as a unique and enormous brainpower? What are they
looking for?
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Jury Statement :
A classic but operating portrait of a kind of city. Anne de Manincor
and "Zimmerfrei" group of cineasts succeed in the description of a
community famous for his research on infinity small, by filming with
humanity commonplace and humbly dressed and talking scientists.
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Director Statement :
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Short Documentary Competition
Signs Award
I Signed the Petition
Mahdi Fleifel |
The Signs Award for Documentary honors films, which express in a surprising way sensible and perturbing aspects of reality. |
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FRENCH PREMIERE
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I Signed the Petition Mahdi Fleifel
Switzerland, Germany, Great
Britain
2018 | 00:10:00
A conversation between two friends about the effectiveness and
implications of publicly stating support for the cultural boycott of
Israel. One friend is wracked with worry having signed a petition
asking Radiohead not to play Tel Aviv, the other is more sanguine.
Through their conversation we catch a glimpse of what it is to be a
Palestinian in today’s world.
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Jury Statement :
A truly original storytelling, requiring all our attention to catch
all the shades of a subtle and powerful sociopolitical analysis built
during an only apparently ordinary morning call between two friends. A
short yet thorough essay about oppression.
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Director Statement :
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Short Documentary Competition
Signs Award Special Mention
Inga Uffe Mulvad |
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FRENCH PREMIERE
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Inga Uffe Mulvad
Denmark
2018 | 00:07:00
By taking a deep dive into her memories of a long life, Inga reflects
over love, aging, and death. She invites us into her home where we
take part in her morning rituals, and when she swims in the cold lake.
This short portrait shows the artistic and personal images of Inga’s
daily life and what it means for her to grow old.
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Jury Statement :
A poetic and charming short movie. Uffe Mulvad shoot in an
anticonformist way, a little shocking and sexy, an excentric old lady:
the art of perverting gently film codes of youth and old age.
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Director Statement :
I'm very honored about that you have pick my film.
I am happy to see that you like films about ordinary people with ordinary life.
I think it is important that documentaries not always are about people in need.
It is important to think about that all people have a history to tell.
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Long Documentary Competition
Night Award
Over the Limite Marta Prus
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The Night Award for Documentary honors films, which represent reality in an ambivalent and enigmatic way, avoiding stereotypes of representation and simple conclusions. |
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Over the Limite Marta Prus
Germany
2017 | 01:14:00
Over the Limit shows how the successful Russian system for training
athletes transgresses boundaries. Elite rhythmic gymnast Rita Mamun
has reached a crucial moment in her career. She’s soon to retire, but
has one final goal set out for her: winning Olympic gold. A
nail-biting behind-the-scenes drama about the intense physical and
mental labor put into a sport that thrives on its beautiful
aesthetics.
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Jury Statement :
A revealing portrait in cold blood. Marta Prus manage to show us with
beautiful images of rythm gymnastic movements and zooms on faces, the
aesthetics of a sport but also the existence of rought tensions
between the athlet and the training staff.
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Director Statement :
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Short Documentary Competition
Night Award
Manila High - Living in Company with Death
Simone Andrea Gottschau, Anders Palm Olesen
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The Night Award for Documentary honors films, which represent reality in an ambivalent and enigmatic way, avoiding stereotypes of representation and simple conclusions. |
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Manila High - Living in Company with Death
Simone Andrea Gottschau, Anders Palm Olesen
Danmark
2017 | 00:12:00
The short documentary portrays four gravediggers from Pasay City
Cemetery and their work constructing “Duterte Compund”, a new
government funded grave-complex for the victims of Tokhang – Duterte’s
so-called war on drugs. In the slums, everyone is a suspected drug
addict.
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Jury Statement :
Knowing or reading about Rodrigo Duterte's so-called war on drugs
(indeed a pretextuous and deadly pursuit of the less fortunate and
more exposed people) will not any longer convey the same feelings or
thoughts after watching this shocking and well constructed short film.
Gaudy colors, frightening images, the voices of the cemetery
residents... some grim yet very human aspects of reality surface
through this surprising work.
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Director Statement :
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Long Documentary Competition
Edward Snowden Award
Cause of Death : Unknown Anniken Hoel |
The Edward Snowden Award honors films, which offer sensible (mostly)
unknown informations, facts and phenomenons of eminent importance, for
which the festival wishes a wide proliferation in the future. |
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Cause of Death : Unknown Anniken Hoel
Norway
2017 | 01:27:00
After her sister died suddenly and unexpectedly while being treated
with prescription antipsychotics, director Anniken Hoel begins a
global investigation into the crimes of the pharmaceutical industry,
the unheralded growth of psychiatric diagnoses and medication, and the
corruption of the government regulatory agencies that have failed,
repeatedly, to protect us. Made over a ten-year period, the film is
simultaneously personal and investigative as it follows Anniken as she
seeks answers regarding not only the death of her sister, but of the
tens of thousands worldwide who have also met a similar fate. Deaths
and damages that until now have been all but ignored. Beginning in a
small town in Norway, and journeying through Scandinavia, the EU and
the US, the chilling documentary-thriller CAUSE OF DEATH: UNKNOWN
exposes the inner workings and motivations of a powerful industry that
continually puts profits before people, and has been far too
influential in defining who is normal and who is "ill".
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Jury Statement :
A breathtaking and terrifying inquiry about some deadly side effects
of antipsychotics, almost unknown. Even more touching because deeply
rooted in the filmmaker's personal history. An intense and meaningful
quest for justice and for a more compassionate and real perspective on
our shared human condition.
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Director Statement :
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Short Documentary Competition
Edward Snowden Award
The Migrating Image
Stefan Kruse |
The Edward Snowden Award honors films, which offer sensible (mostly)
unknown informations, facts and phenomenons of eminent importance, for
which the festival wishes a wide proliferation in the future. |
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FRENCH PREMIERE
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The Migrating Image Stefan Kruse
Denmark
2018 | 00:29:00
The Migrating Image follows a ficitional group of refugees as they
move their way up through Europe. Each chapter of the film takes its
cue from the destination of the refugees. From their home country, the
Mediterranean Sea to being stuck in warehouses in Beograd. Who
produces images of these refugees? and why?? Which cameras surrounding
them and what are the intentions.
“Human beings forget they created images in order to orientate
themselves in the world. Since they are no longer able to decode them,
their lives become a function of their own images: Imagination has
turned into hallucination." The film opens with a quote from the
German philosopher Vilém Flusser. His media theory and especially his
book 'Towards a philosophy of photography' is at the core of the
inspiration for THE MIGRATING IMAGE. The film is in short a closer
look at the images creating the visualisation of the refugee crisis.
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Jury Statement :
The Migrating Image by Stefan Kruse
The filmmaker brilliantly analyses the visual representations - almost
always potentially misleading - of the human, geographical and
frightening itineraries of migrant people. A brilliant editing and a
sober voiceover guide the viewer into decoding the alleged neutrality
of these images, always shaped by power.
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Director Statement :
Receiving an award that specifically honours the conveying of (mostly)
unknown information is a great honour.
The idea for making this film came about wondering on how to convey
media theory in connection to the refugee situation in Europe and
to experience that people connect with the film and its message, is
very rewarding to me.ctor Statement :
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