International Film Festival

Transcending Borders

Bosnia-Herzegovina - Balkan - Worldwide


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IFFTBW --- 1st EDITION / PARIS
January 11 - February 10, 22, 2023


THE AWARDS :
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION TRANSCENDING BORDERS

MAIN AWARD

Edna

Eryk Rocha
Brazil / 2021 / 01:04:14


Living on the edge of Transbrasiliana highway in the Brazilian Amazon, Edna is a witness of a land in ruins built upon massacres. Raised only by her mother, she experiences in her body and hers descendants, the marks of a "war that never ends" - a war for land. Through her reports and writings, the movie builds an hybrid narrative that moves between reality and imaginary. Everything's woven from Edna's memory and her diary entitled "Story of My Life".

 

 

 

JURY DECLARATION

"Edna" combines life and death in the same audiovisual content. Each element of the film reflects a double layer of meaning, where massacres meet rebirth, where ruins meet reconstruction. Writing her own diaries about her time in prison that might seem long, the titular character describes it best when she says it still feels like the war is not over yet. Going from black and white to colors could be a hidden message about hope. The film invites the spectators to rethink and reconsider their role as citizens that has a critical, philosophical, and yet pragmatic thinking toward the difference between right and wrong, and therefore is awarded the main award.




FUTURE AWARD
for a sustainable future

Newcomers

Camille Ghekiere
Belgium / 2021 / 0:33:00


Four young immigrants from Southern cultures wonder how to deal with love and friendship in a country as grey as Belgium. With vivid imagination, disarming honesty and backed by the beats of their homelands, they present us their point of view.

 

JURY DECLARATION

"Newcomers" presents an optimistic angle where love is prevailing over racism and radicalism. It reflects on an integration and relational model that could inspire decision makers for future sustainability and social cohesion. Through artistic performances, we get to know the characters, their struggles, their dreams and their fears presented with honesty and with no shame. In the end, the film serves as a perspective of the new generation living in Europe, opens the dialogue along the lines of tolerance. For its urgency and the bravery to differ from the mainstream discourse, we award it the Future Award.


SPECIAL MENTION

Path

Pradip Kurbah
India / 2021 / 0:20:00


When the pandemic hit us, we were soon to know about the phrase 'embracing the new normal'. There is nothing normal about the loss of livelihood, nothing normal about having to walk for hours. While the privileged embraced a new world, those who were worst affected, fall through the gaps. Path, however, is a personal story of a lone journey a man takes as India readies herself for the onslaught of the virus.

 

JURY DECLARATION

"Path"is an interesting title for the journey that follows the main character to honor a dead body. It enlightens the audience about rituals during a difficult time. Skillfully shot, with minimum to no dialogue at all, visually intensive, it is singled out as a special mention winner.

 

SPECIAL MENTION

Ninosca - The Woman and the Emigrant's Song

Peter Törbiörnsson
Sweden / 2020 / 1:44:00


This is a film about a woman’s struggle for independence that requires her to face her past in the machismo culture of Central America. It is a single stand-alone documentary, and the third and concluding film in director Peter Torbiörnsson’s trilogy that started with The Lovers of San Fernando (2001) and was followed by The Last Chapter (2011). Peter has followed Ninosca during 40 years, through marriage and becoming a mother, the decision to leave Nicaragua and her family and move to Spain to be able to put food on the table and for her children to go to school – but also to escape her violent husband. Once in Spain, Ninosca is refused residence permit and she is unable to go back to Nicaragua. Her children are denied entry to Spain and they remain separated for more than seven years. Ninosca becomes one of Europe’s many undocumented immigrants. In the film we follow her intimately in her everyday struggle. Her dream is to return to Nicaragua, to reunite with her children, buy a piece of land and a small coffee plantation. She wants to return to her home village, revisit her brothers and relatives but at the same time she fears meeting her ex- husband, who has threatened to kill her if she ever comes back

 

 

JURY DECLARATION

Immigration, domestic violence, parents’ dynamics, women empowerment are all critical themes that are portrayed and filmed sometimes poetically and other times with rawness in our special mention winner "Ninosca". The more the film is centered on the specific case of its titular character, the more it explores global concerns about justice systems and policies.

 

MENTION FOR THE FUTURE AWARD

Dajla: Cinema and Oblivion

Arturo Dueñas Herrero
Spain / 2020 / 0:15:00

Life is going on in Dakhla, one of the Sahrawi refugee camps in southern Algeria, forgotten for 45 years. The celebration of a film festival, the Fisahara, breaks the monotony. The event ends, life (and oblivion) continues.


FRENCH PREMIERE

 

 

JURY DECLARATION

"Dajla" sheds some light on a lesser-known political problem in which people are stuck for decades in refugee camps in the Sahara desert. For its observational tone, and for its message of hope once the annual film festival comes to break the routine, we award it the Special Mention for the Future Award.


MENTION FOR THE FUTURE AWARD

Sometimes They Sing

Maya Yoncali, Andy McCredie
United Kingdom / 2021 / 0:13:04


Amid isolation; two lovers are driven into an upheaval of dreams, physical expression and murmuring stillness.



 

JURY DECLARATION

"Sometimes They Sing "presents a poetical tension in relationships, an embedded struggle merged with sadness and gladness at once. It speaks about the very present moment of its creation, but it does so in an abstract, highly artistic language that is open to communicate with the future, achieving timelessness in the process. Therefore it deserves the Special Mention for the Future Award..
DIRECTOR´S STATEMENT

It comes as a great honour to us. We are extremely appreciative of your acknowledgment and support of this film. To us this film is so significant, as it marks the Centrepoint of our artistic collaboration as well as our romantic relationship. The times the film was made in were extreme, chaotic and filled with the sort of situations reflected through the abstraction of the film. You can see the short as a sort of biopic of sorts, capturing the seedling relationship that has now blossomed into an engagement and we are set to marry next spring. Our sincere gratitude is something we would love to extend to you for your support, and as well as the lovely comment you made regarding the timelessness of our film.




Contact:

IFFTBW: 18, rue Budé, 75004 Paris / Tel.: 0033140469225/ dir@ifftbw.com


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