The Institute of Documentary Film Silver Eye Award for Best Short Doc was awarded October 29 to Mohammed Almughanni for his film Son of the Streets. Hanna Hovitie’s To Feather, to Wither received a Special Mention.
The awards were presented during the Festival Hub on October 29. The winner of the feature length category will be announced at the Closing Ceremony on Saturday, October 31.
In Son of the Streets, Khodor (13) is a child whose family tries to issue him an ID document that proves his existence and gives him the right to education, healthcare and movement outside of the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, Lebanon. Throughout the process, many of the family old secrets get revealed.
The Jury, comprised of Christine Camdessus (FIPADOC Festival Director), Veronika Janatková (DokuBaku Co-founder & Programmer) and Diana Tabakov (Doc Alliance Executive Derector), commented: “How unwelcome can one be in this world? A very unique connection with characters allows the director to unfold the nature of Khodor’s vital dilemma in a vivid and profoundly memorable way. The vigorous cinematic experience engraves in the viewer the complex reality of daily life in a camp.”
In To Feather, to Wither, a young female taxidermy apprentice is working to give new life to deceased birds. She is fascinated with one species in particular – crows. In ancient myths and legends, the crow represents a mediator between life and death. For her, death is not a strange thing, but something tangible, an inseparable element in the cycle of existence. In her world, a black cat is playing curiously with an unfinished crow and a piece of meat embodies both the demise of an animal and a new beginning, nurturing a new-born bird fluttering in its nest. Portrayed in a language of symbols, the film lingers somewhere between documentary, fiction and visual poetry.
The Jury awarded the special mention “for outstanding directing skills that have given life to the deceased. The director has created a tender portrait of the poetics of the cycle of life.”
