The fifth Al Jazeera Balkans International Documentary Film Festival (AJB Doc) closed September 13 with the award ceremony at the Bosnian Cultural Center (BKC) in Sarajevo.
The international jury, which consisted of film director Aida Begić, director and producer Dana Budisavljević, documentary filmmaker and producer Fatma Riahi, British documentary filmmaker Phil Grabsky and documentary filmmaker Ensar Altay, awarded the Best Film prize to Gorki Glaser-Müller for Children of the Enemy. The film follows the Swedish musician Patricio Galvez in his seemingly impossible mission to save seven his grandchildren from the infamous Al-Hol prison camp in northern Syria.
“This is a film that, through its dramaturgy, directorial skill and dedication, showed a clear intention to encourage people to think. The director brings to the screen a topic that the media, and we as well, often neglect, and he does it in a way that from the first minute to the last engages the viewers with human drama, raising clear, but in no way rebarbative or polemical questions,” said the Jury said in justification of their decision, noting that it is a film everyone should see.
Special recognition was awarded to the film All that Remains to be Seen by Julie Bezerra Madsen, which, as the members of the jury noted, particularly stood out for its directorial skill and sensibility. “Despite the difficult subject she deals with, the author made a moving, poetic and inspiring film, remaining true to the message of the film, which was told in a careful and powerful way,” they said.
The Al Jazeera Balkans Program Jury Award, which was decided by Lejla Dedić, Sead Kreševljaković and Đani Hasečić, went to Peter Triest for A Parked Life.
“In an extremely visually appealing and observational way, this film presents a strong and emotional story of the Bulgarian truck driver Petar Doychev, who represents thousands of equally unfortunate fates of people from Eastern Europe who live in the shadow of consumerism,” explained the Al Jazeera Balkans Program Jury.
The Program Jury awarded a Special Mention to Marc Wiese for his This Stolen Country of Mine. “The Jury of the Al Jazeera Balkans Program Department awards the “Special Mention” for the author’s perseverance in the effort to show the struggle of anonymous heroes against the system of powerful, corrupt and greedy companies that, in the modern world, take up the position of former overthrown colonial powers, with deep respect for the director’s determination and courage to persist in illuminating the dark sides of the life that surrounds us“, the Jury stated.
The Audience Award will be announced in a few days, after the votes for all the films screened in this year’s AJB DOC have been counted.
