SOLE LUNA AWARDS / GIURIA INTERNAZIONALE

Best Documentary
Strike a Rock, Aliki Saragas

STRIKE A ROCK is the extraordinary example of a “revolution” that can start not only from young people but from two grand-mothers. A powerful and inspiring fight for Justice with every means they have. They are persistent and they still keep trying, even if their life has been a series of disappointments. They don’t give up

Strike A Rock – Official Trailer 2017 from Elafos Productions/Aliki Saragas on Vimeo.

Mention for best direction
Boli Bana, Simon Coulibaly Gillard

For the director’s ability of narrating in a dream like way, an inner territory that mixes human nature, animals, rituals and traditions.

BOLI BANA – Trailer/Bande annonce from Grenade on Vimeo.

Mention for best photography
MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies, Annick Ghijzelings

For the fascinating landscape and the strong contrast between the beautiful images and the fluid camera movement and the dramatic content, which is the manipulation that the local population received from the French authorities that wanted to experiment the atomic bomb in that part of the Pacific Ocean.

MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies – TRAILER from Centre de l’Audiovisuel à Bxl on Vimeo.

Mention for best editing (ex aequo)
Sea of Sorrow – Sea of hope, Estephan Wagner, Marianne Hougen-Moraga

For the ability to editing not only the images but most importantly the feelings of the characters presented in the story.

Los Ofendidos, Marcela Zamora

Because it manages to use historical material in a way that brings the audience close to the events of those days.

Trailer documental “Los Ofendidos” de Marcela Zamora from Kino Glaz on Vimeo.

Mention for most innovative documentary
Solo for one Hand, Pavel Jurda

For the variety of different cinematic elements and the original way in which the story is narrated.

Mention for best short doc
Terraform, Sil Van Der Woerd, Jorik Dozy

For the very simple, direct yet extremely powerful way to convey the story and emotionally connect the audience to the events that are presented. Particularly striking is the choice of a very unique perspective that widens the perception and the capacity to say so much in such a small amount of time.

A BRIDGE BETWEEN CULTURES AWARD
Salto, Maryam Haddadi

The award for SALTO is a tribute to everyone who has had the strength and the determination to make an important and courageous complaint. – as Lucia Gotti Vetnurato motivates the award – Zahra Hosseinzadeh could have been the Pellegrini of the occidental world, but the destiny of birth has criminalized her, put her in the shadows. With this award, Sole Luna wants to build a virtual bridge of solidarity and wants to give an emphasis to the imprisonment that provokes fundamentalism of any kind.

Middle Eastern Dramatic Shorts 7:00pm Wed Mar 28 FilmFest52 At The Bethel Cinema from Thomas Carruthers on Vimeo.

SPECIAL JURY NEW ITALIANS
The special Jury “New italians” for the section Short Docs of the Sole Luna Doc Film Festival 13th edition awards:

One minute, Dina Naser

One minute, is set in Gaza during a military operation launched by Israel as a counter action after the launch of some rockets by Hamas. The video, with the power of images and dialogues, provokes strong emotions and is able to represent the fear of the little protagonist of the uncertain and perhaps dramatic future that awaits her, making the viewer experience it. Most of the film is shot in the dark. This darkness provokes panic and disorientation with repeated intervals of silence that are broken by the shootings. Particularly important is the contrast between the external dramatic reality and the calmness with which the mother reassures her daughter and tries to protect her from the world that could upset the child’s life. This is a real practice in many situations of war and conflict in which music and play are of fundamental importance to continue living and above all to prevent children from being overwhelmed by anguish and panic.

Trailer – One Minute from Dina Naser on Vimeo.

Terraform, Van Der Woerd, Jorik Dozy

Terraform, for the strength of the images which represents the terrible work in the sulfur mines and the sacrifices of parents who try to prevent their children from the same future. Unlike the other films, the emotion and the message emerge not due to the sounds and the words but everything is left to the force of the images. This make us experience the material poverty that pushes the human being to sacrifice themselves, by putting their health at risk every day by breathing sulfur and highly toxic air, in order to make the people they care for survive. The tears and sweat of the protagonists remain attached for days together with the final scene of the protagonist’s family flying in the air.

Menzione speciale della giuria “Nuovi Italiani”

Thr european dream: Serbia, Jaime Alekos

For its capacity to tell the experience of those who have left their land out of necessity, the unjustifiable violence of men in uniform who consider other men as animals, the desperation of not being able to go neither forward or backwards, blocked in a country of Eastern Europe and see the European dream, that has led them to face unspeakable suffering and deprivation, perhaps definitively shattered.

THE EUROPEAN DREAM: SERBIA (Trailer) from Jaime Alekos on Vimeo.

SPECIAL JURY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

I membri della Giuria speciale, composta da studentesse e dagli studenti del Liceo Scientifico Statale Albert Einstein di Palermo e dell’Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Santoni-Gambacorti di Pisa, decretano quale miglior documentario della sezione Human Rights della XIII edizione del Sole Luna Doc Film Festival:

Sea of Sorrow, Sea of Hope, Marianne Hougen Moraga, Estephan Wagner

• Because it shows clearly the complex and dramatic phenomenon of today’s migration.
• For the directors’ superb ability to tell and witness the story of the protagonist, emphasizing both the socio-anthropological and political aspect of a forced migration of people seeking safety for themselves and their children, as well as the intimate, existential aspect characterized by the pain and hope of the mother-child relationship.
• For the wonderful script and for the effective and clear editing through which the directors managed to create a strong empathy between the film’s protagonist and the audience.
• For the ability to tell the phenomenon of migration in a capturing way and with different cultural perspectives, underlining the implications for those who choose to leave and for those who welcome. The film also forces the viewers to question their role as a citizen of the global world.
• For the overwhelming firmness with which the struggle of Manal to save herself and her children is presented.
• For the narrative power of the message which tells the audience the risks, fears, hopes, and pain associated with the migratory phenomenon through a documentary that is as brief as it is intense.

The special Jury members award the special mention to:

Shootball, Fèlix Colomer

• For the original narrative of the entire documentary, able to engage the viewer in a real story of investigative journalism.
• For the complexity of the issues addressed, presented with a strong condemnation and respect for the stories of the victims involved.
• For the director’s ability to become a subject in the documentary, thereby underlining the importance of participating actively and of siding morally and politically with respect to the events of one’s own community.
• For the social complaint that was brought forward in the documentary in a precise and analytical way.
For the ability to give voice to all the protagonists, allowing the viewer to enter the world of those who have suffered unjustifiable sexual violence, and on the other hand the contradictory and sometimes incomprehensible world of the rapists. This makes the representation complex and chaotic as it is in reality.
• For the moral strength of the director and of the father which is expressed in the choice to fight in a non-violent but determined way for the rights of the victims of pedophilia. It stresses how the past, especially in its dark areas, must be faced individually and collectively without revisionism and silence.

AUDIENCE AWARD
Singing with angry birds, Hyewon Jee