Marusya Syroechkovskaya’s How to Save A Dead Friend was awarded the main prize of Bristol’s RAI Film Festival (UK) during the March 27 awards ceremony. The event was hosted by festival co-directors, Caterina Sartori and Stephen Hughes, who were joined by the respective award category judges who announced each of the seven winners, as well as commendations.
Judge Tanja Wol described How to Save A Dead Friend as “a raw and honest depiction of love and addiction. Filmed with small camcorders over many years, it is a stunning long-term capture of the pressure and pointlessness of adolescence and young adulthood in contemporary Russia”.
Ten main competition titles also competed for the Basil Wright Film Prize, awarded to the documentary that best represents the poetic film form. This was given to Carolina Arias Ortiz’s Rebel Objects, about the mysterious Costa Rican stone spheres and filmed in black and white. This was cited by judge Elizabeth Povinelli as a “truly captivating film” that introduces a “magnificent new visual syntax”.
The winner of the Audience Award sponsored by SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine was Once Upon a Village, directed by Srishti Lakhera. The film, about two women struggling with the choice of leaving their Himalayan village for an alienating city life, has been a popular streaming choice during the online festival, organisers underline.
The Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology was awarded to The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters by Catalina Tesar and Dana Bunescu, a film that invites the viewer to reflect on the resilience of women in a ‘son-preferred’ male dominated society. It was applauded for its “tenacious camera work, as well as its humanistic and emphatic approach.”
The RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize (The Marsh Foundation), a competitive category of twenty titles, was given to Sofia Bensadon’s Gambote, which gives a unique focus on the material culture of brick-making in Bolivia. The judges appreciated “its deft cinematic skills and easy and deep access into the working relationship of those in skilled, repetitive work.”
The Ethnomusicology Film Award in partnership with BFE (British Forum for Ethnomusicology) celebrates the most outstanding use of music and sound. This was awarded to La Tumba Mambi, the result of a long-term collaboration between Canadian anthropologist Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier and Cuban DJ Jigüe the members of a traditional cultural group located in Santiago de Cuba. The judges commented that “the aesthetic beauty of the film is breathtaking.”
The Future of Work took the Wiley Blackwell Student Prize, awarded to the best student film made in the tradition of ethnographic filmmaking. Yihao Yan’s film was described by the judges as “a timely portrait”, and “a window into a growing phenomenon and sub-culture of digital nomads.”
Organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, The RAI Film Festival “gathers storytellers from all around the world, who use film to shine a light on the people and places too often overlooked in the spotlight of global media.”
The 2023 festival launched online worldwide on March 3 and continues until 31 March, offering a programme of over eighty domestic and international documentary films. An in-person festival of screenings, filmmaker events, workshops and an XR (extended reality) experience took place in Bristol UK, from 22-25 March.
As previously announced, the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the distinguished and prolific filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. The President’s Award was given to influential filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha for What About China?
Competitive strand winners:
- RAI Film Prize: How to Save a Dead Friend by Marusya Syroechkovskaya
- The Basil Wright Film Prize: Rebel Objects by Carolina Arias Ortiz
- SAPIENS Audience Award: Once Upon a Village by Srishti Lakhera
- Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology: The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters by Catalina Tesar and Dana Bunescu
- RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize: Gambote by Sofia Bensadon
- Ethnomusicology Film Award: La Tumba Mambi by Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier and DJ Jigüe
- Wiley Blackwell Student Film Prize: The Future of Work by Yihao Yan
Competitive strand commendations:
- RAI Film Prize: Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege by Abdallah Al-Khatib
- The Basil Wright Film Prize: The Prison Promise by Joseph Dégramon Ndjom
- Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology: All God’s Children by Robert Lemelson and Chisako Yokoyama Adair
- RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize (Two commendations): When the Sea Sends Forth a Forest by Guangli Liu; You Can’t Show My Face by Knutte Wester
- Ethnomusicology Film Award: The Soil by Zuzanna Solakiewicz
- Wiley Blackwell Student Film Prize (Two commendations): A Family Portrait by Shubham Sharma; Ten by Ten by Jami L. Bennett
Lifetime Achievement Award: Alanis Obomsawin
The President’s Award: Trinh T. Minh-ha for What About China
