The European Film Academy announced November 19 the European Documentary nominations (among other categories) for the 34th European Film Awards. The 4,100+ academy members will now vote for the winners who will be presented during the awards ceremony 11 December in Berlin.
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee is nominated in European Documentary and European Animated Film categories while Olga Lucovnicova’s My Uncle Tudor and Eliane Esther Bots’ In Flow of Words receive nods in European Short Film category.
EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY NOMINATIONS 2021
Babi Yar. Context Netherlands, Ukraine
Written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa
Produced by Maria Choustova & Ilya Khrzhanovskiy
On September 29-30, 1941, Sonderkommando 4a of the Einsatzgruppe C, assisted by two battalions of the Police Regiment South and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and without any resistance from the local population, shot dead in the Babi Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev 33 771 Jews. The film reconstructs the historical context of this tragedy through archive footage documenting the German occupation of Ukraine and the subsequent decade. When memory turns into oblivion, when the past overshadows the future, it is the voice of cinema that articulates the truth.
Flee Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen & Amin Nawabi
Produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie, Jean-François Le Corre, Mathieu Courtois, Charlotte Most & Maria Ekerhovd
Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym), a 36-year-old high-achieving academic, grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. Recounted mostly through animation to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen — his close friend and high-school classmate, he tells for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan. Through heartfelt interviews between Jonas and Amin, FLEE tells an unforgettable story of self-discovery. Showing how only by confronting the past it is possible to carve out a future, and the universal truth that only when you stop fleeing from who you are you can find the true meaning of home.
Mr Bachmann and his Class Germany
Directed & produced by Maria Speth
An intimate documentary portraying the bond between an elementary school teacher and his students. His unconventional methods clash with the complex social and cultural realities of the provincial German industrial town they live in.
Taming the Garden Switzerland, Germany, Georgia
Written and directed by Salomé Jashi
Produced by Vadim Jendreyko, Erik Winker, Martin Roelly & Salomé Jashi
An ode to the rivalry between men and nature, Taming the Garden is the story of how a powerful man indulges in an unusual hobby by having century-old trees uprooted in communities along the Georgian coast and transplanted to his private garden.
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World Sweden
Directed by Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri
Produced by Stina Gardell
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation for the screen of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice”. In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager, who he brought to international fame overnight and led to spend a short but intense part of his turbulent youth between the Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and the so distant Japan. Fifty years after the premiere of DEATH IN VENICE, Björn takes us on a remarkable journey made of personal memories, cinematographic history, stardust and tragic events in what could be the last attempt for him to finally get his life back on track.
EUROPEAN ANIMATED FILM 2021 (Documentary nomination)
Flee Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen & Amin Nawabi
Produced by Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Charlotte De La Gournerie, Jean-François Le Corre, Mathieu Courtois, Charlotte Most & Maria Ekerhovd
EUROPEAN SHORT FILM 2021 (Documentary nomination)
My Uncle Tudor Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, Moldova
Written, directed and produced by Olga Lucovnicova
After 20 years of silence, the filmmaker travels back to the house of her great-grandparents, where she passed through harmful events that left a deep imprint on her memory forever. The long-awaited family gathering runs counter to her attempts to overcome the past.
In Flow of Words The Netherlands
Written and directed by Eliane Esther Bots
Produced by Manon Bovenkerk
In Flow of Words follows the narratives of three interpreters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. They interpreted shocking testimonies from witnesses, victims and perpetrators, without ever allowing their own emotions, feelings and personal histories to be present. Contrary to their position at the tribunal, this film places their voices and experiences centre stage.
