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AWARD CELEBRATION
Cinema in Transgression Competition
The Awards of the Section Cinema in Transgression
Sunday, December 6, 2015 / 8 pm
Maison de Portugal - Résidence André Gouveia
Cité Universitaire / Paris
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Main Award:
Scorched Water
Alexander Hick
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Scorched Water
Alexander Hick
Germany, Mexico
2015 | 1:16:00
In order to escape being sacrificed, the God Xólotl transforms himself into a salamander, fleeing from what he once was." So relates the voice in the essay film which tells of the search for the Axolotl, a salamander that lives in the lakes surrounding Mexico City. The Axolotl refuses to undergo metamorphosis. According to a fishermen who survives on the outskirts of the megalopolis, the animal now disappeared. Cognizant of the mythological immortality that surrounds the strange creature, he expresses the desire to transform into one himself. Taking up this mythology of transformation from god to animal as a metaphor for Mexico City itself, the director accompanies a corrupt policeman and brutal gang members in the sprawling suburbs of the megalopolis. He examines the struggle for survival in what was the former lake of Mexico but is today the habitat of 23 million people. As an essayistic inquiry into survival and adaptation, the film casts its gaze on that which remains.
Extrait :
https://vimeo.com/140688909
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Jury Statement :
For its complex structure of documenting people at the outskirts of
Mexico City mixed with a philosophical reflection on old gods and
living animals as examples for change and steadfastness in a changing
world. Brilliant! |
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Signs Award :
Conversion: The Guide of Skin Allergy Treatment Conversion: Le guide des traitements contre les allergies cutanées
Afsaneh Salari |
The Signs Award honors films, which treat an important subject
in an original and convincing way. |
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Conversion: The Guide of Skin Allergy Treatment Conversion: Le guide des traitements contre les allergies cutanées
Afsaneh Salari
Belgium, Iran
2015 | 00:10:00
How would it be like to live far from home and receive daily news on massacre in Middle-east? Conversion... explores the anxiety and guilts of people who live far from their bloodied homelands in secure Europe.
Extrait :
https://vimeo.com/137059455
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Jury Statement :
The lament of war in the homeland, and lost and absent family and
friends is combined with poetic imagery that does not illustrate the
text but rather gives it an emotional quality and leaves space to own
allusions without becoming sentimental. |
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Night Award :
Singular Ednina
Jan Mozetic
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The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity
and complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and
subtleness, which keeps mind and consideration moving. |
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Singular Ednina
Jan Mozetic
Italy, Slovenia
2014 / 0:15:40
In the skyscraper of a frozen city lives a collector. Unlike the others, he does not collect postcards, coins, but stories. He carefully preserves the trash, remnants of past events. He puts aside his feelings and memories in favor of other lifes. Wind of time inevitably reveals a persistent thread of his wishes and wounds. In the anarchy of digital memories the events and people bound and mix together, so that we can hardly separate the collector from the collection. Everything becomes a part of an unclear and lonely modern plural.
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Jury Statement :
The film speaks about utter loneliness by „collecting“ stories and
fantasizing about other peoples‘ life. It does this by a superb
combination of people being watched through windows and the fantasies
of the narrator; very well structured without one superfluous moment. |
Director Statement:
Waw!!! This is crazy!
Thank you so much! For me was already a great honor being accepted to
you festival, even bigger to your concourse. I checked on the internet
which movies will be played and I was absolutely excited to see that
there are this kinds of festivals, that explore in a serious, complex
and sophisticated certain segments of reality that are so overlooked
this days.
I found it quite impossible that such a small, fine movie, that could
be easily defined not even as a home made but rather room made, could
compete with movies that had a much bigger production. And it' totally
crazy that this kind of movie can be actually awarded.
The movie was made with the materials that were shot in Milan where I
studied. After some years I went thru this shots and decided to make
something out of it. I co-recorded some things at home, some thru
Skype (as I am too lazy)
Unfortunately I couldn't assist to the projection due to the work,
and now I am ill. And I was never so happy to be ill as I am now. With
the prize aside I am very glad that somewhere out there are some
soulmates with whom you resonate. This is the power of the movie, this
is what inspires me.
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Special Mention :
reStart
reDémarrer
Olga Osorio |
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reStart reDémarrer
Olga Osorio
Spain
2015 | 0:14:58
Andrea is trapped in a temporal loop. Will she be able to break it?
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Jury Statement :
For its perfect narrative structure and strong performances in a
traumatic experience, when you continue to revisit the past and cannot
leave a circle of events. A haunting film. |
Director Statement :
We feel really proud to be recognized with a Special Mention in the
13th International Festival Signes de Nuit. ReStart it's a time travel
science fiction story, which mainly tries to point out how we
construct ourselves through memories and identifications with our own
past. We rally feel happy knowing that we manage to connect with the
jury feelings with our film. |
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Special Mention :
Spell of fever
Safia Benhaim |
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Spell of fever
Safia Benhaim
Morocco
2011 | 0:40:00
On a feverish night, a child perceives a ghost, a woman who has come from the sea, coming home after a long political exile. A silent tale, a bodyless voice and visions mingle in the dark of the night and the fever. The child of the present and the political refugee are now one, travelling together to a strange building haunted by lost memories. History of decolonization and forgotten political fights appear and disappear. But a new struggle, the Arab Spring of Morocco, floods the past.
Extrait :
https://vimeo.com/96324824
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Jury Statement :
For its poetic text that weaves a personal story with the history of
the last half century. By putting the young girl in the focus of the
imagery the filmmaker hints on a new cycle of hope for better politics
in the country. |
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