7th ZagrebDox - International Documentary Film Festival
February 27 - March 6, 2011
Zagreb / Croatia
Awards: International Competition Big Stamp - Position Among the Stars by Leonard Retel Helmrich; the Regional Competition Big Stamp - Trials, Tribulations & Sustainable Growth of a Cock by Vladimir Perović; the Small Stamp, for best film by an author under 30 years of age, goes to the Polish film Charcoal Burners; Movies That Matter Award goes to the Serbian film Run for Life by Mladen Matičević.
The decision about the Movies That Matter award, presented to the film that best promotes human rights, was brought by the jury consisting of Mario Mažić, coordinator of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Ida Prester, journalist and singer, and Drago Hedl, investigative journalist. The said jury awarded special mentions to the films Vlast (Power) by Cathryn Collins and Pit No 8 by Marianna Kaat, while the main award was presented to the film Run for Life by Mladen Matičević.
Run for Life
Japan, Serbia, 2010, 87 min, Social Issues
Run for Life is a story about three Ethiopian athletes who had participated at Podgorica half-marathon in November 2007 and afterwards decided to stay in Serbia and applied for political asylum. When Zoran Molović, a former Yugoslav athletic champion found out about their situation, he took them from the refugee camp, found them accommodation in the village of Pambukovica and became their coach. There the athlets train, wait for Serbian citizenship and hope that one day they will run for Serbia at world competitions. Should they return to Ethiopia, they would face poverty, war, and even jail. This is a film about their expectations, hopes, about their struggle with the situation, sorrow for their families but also about how Serbia will accept them.
Ex Oriente Film 2009 / East European Forum 2009
Pit No. 8
Auk Nr 8 , Estonia, Ukraine, 2010, 95 min, HD, Creative, Personal View, Social Issues
In the heart of a once thriving Ukrainian coal-mining region everybody digs – retirees, unemployed miners and even the children. Years ago, the town's desperate residents decided to start mining illegally; they excavate everywhere!!! The story focuses on the Sikanov family, which has three children. 15-year-old Yura, the grandson of a powerful Soviet plant director, is the head of the family working as a miner in the illegal pit. Most Jura wants to run his own cafe somewhere far from home, but the responsibility for the two sisters and looming economic crisis pushes his dreams in the distant future.
East European Forum 2008 / Doc Launch 2010 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
The Small Stamp, awarded to the best film by a filmmaker under 30 years of age, went to the Polish film Charcoal Burners by Piotr Zlotorowicz, while the special mention was awarded to the young filmmaker Darko Stanković and The One Who’s Gone, as decided by the youth jury, consisting of Đuro Gavran, Iva Mrkić and Igor Bezinović.
Charcoal Burners
Smolarze , Poland, 2010, 15 min, HD, Portrait
Every summer, Marek and Janina work as charcoal burners in the Bieszczady Mountains. Far from civilization, in the heart of the mountains, they live according to the rhythm set by nature. We accompany the characters from dawn till dusk, observing the slow passage of time. The whole creates a story about people who chose a simple life.
The regional jury consisting of director Milica Đenić, director Wolfram Huke and film and TV critic Dragan Jurak, decided to award the special mentions to the Croatian film Am I Happy or What by Vanja Sviličić Juranić and the Bulgarian film Hotel Paradise by Sophia Tzavella. The main award, the Big Stamp in regional competition, was presented to the Montenegrin film Trials, Tribulations & Sustainable Growth of a Cock by Vladimir Perović.
Trials, Tribulations & Sustainable Growth of a Cock
Život, priključenija i održivi razvoj jednog kokota , Montenegro, 2010, 21 min, Creative, Society
A film about macho culture from the point of view of a cock, also a symbol of machismo. Simple, but very impressive and brutal in its concept, clear in expression, without dialogues and comments, without explanations about the feast, almost completely devoid of a religious or social context, but still with a strong cultural touch.
Paradise Hotel
Hotel Rai , Bulgaria, 2010, 54 min, Beta SP, Human Rights, Social Issues, Society
The young Demir dreams of a wedding. But his Roma tower block at the outskirts of a provincial town in Bulgaria is no place for romance. 25 years ago it had all it takes for panel socialist heaven: from parquet floors to intercom, the coveted hot water central, street lamps, benches under murmuring apple trees. Someone called the place Paradise Hotel – and the name stuck. But now? The parquet disappeared. The water stopped. The lights went off. And if you cross the field behind Paradise Hotel, you will see Bozhidar “The God Given” who protects everyone from evil and excessive happiness in a documentary about panel integration, love, misery, a lot of dreams, a little lyrics and one Gypsy wedding.
Eduard Galić, the acclaimed Croatian filmmaker, chaired the international jury that also comprised Iranian director Hamid Rahmanian and Croatian director Hana Jušić. He presented the winners of the International Competition: the special mention went to the Swedish film Steam of Life by Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, and 17 August by Alexander Gutman, while the Big Stamp went to Position Among the Stars, by Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich.
For more details, please visit ZagrebDox.