One of the main awards, Silver Award, was presented to the Polish documentary film Kites (Beata Dzianowicz, 2008) that shows the life of Afghan teenagers through their own eyes and cameras handed out by Polish filmmakers. The second Polish success was the award for Chemo (Pawel Lozinski, 2009). His intimate portrait of patients in an oncology clinic receiving chemotherapy that shows their will to live and optimism despite the illness won its director the Award for Best Director. A few weeks ago, Pawel Lozinski also won the Award for Best Director at the One World film festival in Prague. The third East European documentary awarded with the Bronze Award is Alone In Four Walls (Allein in vier Wänden, Alexandra Westmeir, 2007), a German-Russian co-production film about young delinquents in a Russian correctional house.
The main award, Gold Award, went to the documentary film Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, Canada, China, 2010) that shows current social situation of many Chinese families that are separated due to high unemployment in rural regions and their only chance is to go to work in the far away cities to obtain enough money for families at home. Last Train Home also won the main competition at IDFA in Amsterdam last year and Czech audiences had a chance to see the film at this year’s One World film festival.
List of Winners of Anasy Documentary Awards 2010:
Gold: Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, Canada, China, 2010)
Silver: Kites (Beata Dzianowicz, Poland, 2008)
Bronze: Alone In Four Walls (Alexandra Westmeir, Germany, Russia, 2007)
Child In Our Eyes: Demain J'irai Mieux (Vincent Detour, Dominique Henry, Belgium, 2009)
One Minute Documentary: Disability Is Not Liability (Aisha Aboualmaaly, UAE)
Best Script: Mahmoud Kaabour (Champ of the Camp, UAE)
Best Director: Chemo (Pawel Lozinski, Poland, 2009)
Best Editing: Los Herederos (Eugenio Polgovsky, Mexico, 2008)
Best Character: Mrs B. (from the film Absence of Mr. and Mrs. B., Fima Emami, Iran)
Best Message and Idea: Waliden - Children of Others (Awa Traore, Mali, 2009)
For more information see www.anasydocawards.com
Kites (Beata Dzianowicz, 2008)
Poland, 79 min.
In 2006, at the Art School in Kabul, a film course "Kabul - My City" was held. Students were given cameras and professional help from a young polish director by the name of Jacek Szaranski. The students came up with the ideas for their films and the style in which they would show Kabul. They focused their lenses on their closest surroundings - neighbors' children, ubiquitous kites and themselves. "Kites" has become a record of the present day Kabul from the perspective of an Afghan teenager. It also became a story about how a film passion is awakened, the difficulty of asking questions and the courage of hearing answers.
Ex Oriente Film 2004 / East Silver 2008
Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, 2009)
Canada, China, 85 min.
When the Zhangs abandoned their home, along with their parents and one-year-old child, 16 years ago, they believed it was the best for all concerned. For many years, they worked to earn money for their family as labourers in textile factories, only returning home for a few days annually to celebrate New Year.
Chemo (Pawel Lozinski, 2009)
Polsko, 58 min.
Patients in an oncology clinic receive chemotherapy. Their faces can be seen in a close-up. They lie in pairs and hold fascinating conversations. Life seen from a different perspective, a distance offered by a hospital, reveals its value, sense and charm. Why so late?
East European Forum 2007 / East Silver 2009
Alone In Four Walls (Allein in vier Wänden, Alexandra Westmeir, 2007)
Germany, Russia, 85 min.
In post-Soviet Russia, troubled underage boys caught at various offenses (from stealing to multiple murder) are committed for a few years to closed state reform schools. There, they live in a military type of regime, starting the day with open air exercises, making beds to absurdly meticulous rules etcetera. Ironically, many come from such poor and/or abusive, often broken families that a structured life with three square meals, a warm dorm and regular classes feels like a better deal, some actually dread returning home.