AMY
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2015
Director: Asif Kapadia
Running Time: 128 min
Language: English
Subtitles: Arabic
A documentary telling the story of six-time Grammy winner Amy Winehouse, in her own words. Featuring unseen archival footage and unheard tracks, it shows how
she became an international sensation experiencing meteoric rise to fame, the relentless and invasive media attention, as well as her troubled relationships and addictions that led her into self-destruction, resulting in her death at age 27.
Premiered at Cannes IFF 2015
Nominated for Best Documentary – East End FF 2015
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film and Audience Award – Edinburgh IFF 2015
Still for Amy (Photo: Zawya)
HUMAN
Country: France
Year: 2015
Director: Yann Arthus Bertrand
Running Time: 180 min
Language: French, English
Subtitles: English
Human is a collection of stories about, and images of, our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. These stories full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, bring us face to face with the Other and make us reflect on our lives. Our Earth is shown at its best through aerial shots, resulting in an ode to the beauty of the world, providing a moment to draw breath and for introspection.
Premiered at Venice IFF 2015
Still for Human (Photo: Zawya)
NICOLAS PHILIBERT
Retrospective
1) EVERY LITTLE THING / LA MOINDRE DES CHOSES
Country: France
Year: 1996
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Running Time: 105 min
Language: French
Subtitles: English
During the summer of 1995, faithful to what has now become a tradition, residents and staff at the La Borde psychiatric clinic get together to put on a play. The film follows rehearsals, retracing the ups and downs of this adventure. But over and above the theatre, it describes life at La Borde, time passing, loneliness and tiredness, as well as the moments of merriment, laughter and wit peculiar to certain residents.
Golden Gate Award – San Francisco IFF 1998
Audience Grand Prize – Montreal Festival of Nouveau Cinema 1997
Official Selection – Locarno IFF 1996
2) IN THE LAND OF THE DEAF / LE PAYS DES SOURDS
Country: France
Year: 1993
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Running Time: 99 min
Language: French
Subtitles: Arabic, English
What is the world like for the thousands of people who live in silence? Jean-Claude, Abou, Claire, Sophie and all the rest, who have been totally deaf since birth or since the early months of their lives, dream, think and communicate through signs. With them we set off to discover that distant land where seeing and touching are of such crucial importance. This film gives us a glimpse of the world through their eyes.
Golden Gate Award – San Francisco IFF 1994
Grand Prize, Documentary Section – Vancouver IFF 1993
Official Selection – Locarno IFF 1992
Still for In The Land of The Deaf (Photo: Zawya)
3) LA MAISON DE LA RADIO
Country: France, Japan
Year: 2013
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Running Time: 103 min
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Nicolas Philibert has accepted the challenge to portray that which cannot be seen. Shouldering his camera, he spent half a year wandering the endless corridors of Radio France’s ‘round house’ showing the entire spectrum of political and cultural programmes and allowing these to create a universe of their own, like an echo of the world outside. This film is a monument to the diligent creators behind this “blind” medium.
Best Documentary – Valladolid IFF 2013
Golden Star for Best Documentary – French Cinema Press Academy 2014
Nominated for Best Documentary – César Awards 2014
4) TO BE AND TO HAVE / ETRE ET AVOIR
Country: France
Year: 2002
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Running Time: 104 min
Language: French
Subtitles: English
All over France, there are still examples of what are known as “single-class schools”: classes that bring together all the children of a village around one teacher, from kindergarten to the last year of primary school. Between isolation and opening up to the world, these eclectic little groups share everyday life, for better and for worse. This film was shot in one of them, somewhere in the heart of Auvergne.
Nominated Best Film – BAFTA Awards 2004
Best Editing Award and Nominated for Best Film and Best Director – César Awards 2003
Best Documentary – European Film Awards 2002
Best Documentary – Valladolid IFF 2002
Still for Le Maison De Le Radio (Photo: Zawya)
SOMETHING BETTER TO COME / YULA’S DREAM
Country: Denmark, Poland
Year: 2014
Director: Hanna Polak
Running Time: 97 min
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English
An extraordinary thirteen-year personal journey set, right outside of Moscow, in one of the bleakest urban places in the world, The Svalka. People struggle to live there, including our protagonist, eleven-year-old Yula, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible.
Special Jury Award – IDFA 2014
Jury Prize – Eurodok 2015
Best Documentary – Valletta FF 2015
Still for Something Better to Come (Photo: Zawya)
THE QUEEN OF SILENCE
Country: Germany, Poland
Year: 2014
Director: Agnieszka Zweifka
Running Time: 80 min
Language: Romani, Polish
Subtitles: English
10-year-old Denisa is an outcast in many ways. Illegal citizen of a gypsy camp in Poland, woman in a patriarchal community, she doesn’t speak as no one has ever diagnosed her with severe hearing disabilities. Living in a world of her own, full of rhythm and dance, she imitates the glamorous women from the Bollywood DVDs she found. Dancing, she can be anyone she wants and express what she can‘t say – joy, sadness and fear.
Honorable Mention (International Competition) – DOK Munich 2015
Silver Horn Award for Best Feature Documentary, Polish Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography – Pärnu IFF 2015
Still for The Queen of Silence (Photo: Zawya)
TOTO AND HIS SISTERS / TOTO SI SURORILE LUI
Country: Romania
Year: 2014
Director: Alexandre Nanau
Running Time: 93 min
Language: Romanian
Subtitles: English
Together with his two older sisters, nine-year-old Toto lives in a rundown neighborhood on the outskirts of Bucharest. After their mom was locked up for dealing drugs, the three Roma children had to take care of themselves. This documentary follows their path and offers us a unique insight into the life of a Roma family living on the fringes of society.
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary, Special Jury Award and Human Rights Award – Sarajevo IFF 2015
Grand Jury Prize for European Feature Film – Angers IFF 2015
Best International Documentary – Zurich IFF 2014
Best Documentary – Warsaw IFF 2014
Still for Toto and His Sisters (Photo: Zawya)
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