Cinema shows one side of the story, the rest is up to us
22 de SEPTIEMBRE, 2012
14 International Film Festival on Human Rigths
Ph: Facundo Romero
"Cinema shows one side of the story, the rest is up to us".
Words of Florencia Santucho in a very emotive ceremony, together with journalist and Master of Ceremonies Liliana Hendel, for the award of the productions which took part in the 14 International Film Festival on Human Rights.
On Tuesday, May 29th, the theater El Globo in the city of Buenos Aires became the venue for the ceremony in which the documentaries Lunas Cautivas (2011) by Marcia Paradiso, This is my land... Hebron (2010) by Giulia Amati and Stephen Natanson, and Al Otro Lado (2011) by Sofía Quirós turned out to be the big award winners.
The ceremony opened few minutes after 8 pm with the announcement of the festival’s great achievements: over 85 films were screened within a week, many of them from countries as different from each other as Uganda, Denmark or the USA, and with a yearly growing audience —around 3200 people.
Special mention should be made to the participation of over 50 schools from the City of Buenos Aires and suburbs, which were also present in the morning screenings. All of this made possible thanks to the help of 150 volunteers.
After showing a video with a summary of what was done, and in front of several delegations from different countries and festival sponsors, Florencia Santucho, director of the festival, showed her gratitude to all the ones who participated in the project and stated that “we hope this Cinema may also reach the screens, big and small, with a place of relevance in them”.
She talked about the new forms of discrimination and the jail, which was portrayed in many films and proposals gathered by the festival as a form of “resistance”, because “Cinema shows one side of the story, the rest is up to us as people”, she asserted.
After an emotive homage paid to the recently deceased Dr. Eduardo Luis Duhalde, the award ceremony took place.
Lunas Cautivas (2011), by Marcia Paradíso, was the evening’s great revelation. It was awarded for the Argentinian Documentary Films Official Competition, both by the jury and the audience choice, and got a second mention in the Feature Film Official Competition by the jury Signis. The film portrays the life of women in a penitentiary. Moved by the award, one of them explained that the documentary shows “a group of women who attended a Poetry workshop, finding in it a way of surviving”, and she added that “Cinema makes you free in a place where you body is locked up, but your mind is free, your soul is free.”
Al Otro Lado (2011), by Sofía Quirós, was awarded with the first prize by audience choice in the Short and Medium-Length Films Official Competition, also obtaining a mention from the jury in the same category. The documentary shows how people live in Nicole neighbourhood, next to a sanitary landfill. The director expressed her gratitude by saying that “Most of us come from other countries, so to be present here is to have a place for out identity.”
This is my land... Hebron, likewise, obtained the first prize from the jury Signis, and the first prize in the Feature Film Official Competition because, according to the jury, it “denounces a State which, on behalf of religious rights, justifies the subjecting and violation of the most basic human rights.”
Also in the Feature Film Official Competition, Polisse (2011), by Maïwenn, was awarded by audience choice, while the jury chose La Victoria de Úrsula (2011), by Nacho Ruiperez and Julio Marti.
The evening’s end was signalled by the presentation of the Project Huellas: a “performative ritual” which keeps the search for disappeared children awake, especially for Clara Anahí, taken from the Mariani Teruggi house.
The festival finishes today, and for that it will hold several free screenings. Enjoy. VOLVER AL ARCHIVO
