Sarvnik Kaur’s Against the Tide is crowned Best Feature at IceDocs
- A Special Mention has been bestowed upon Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview, while the gong for Best Short went to Monika Proba’s Light Years
The fifth edition of the Iceland Documentary Film Festival (IceDocs) has been brought to a close by a screening of Erik Gandini’s After Work [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Erik Gandini
film profile] (Sweden/Italy/Norway) and an awards ceremony, held in a warehouse in the atmospheric surroundings of Akranes’ Old Lighthouse. This year, the Icelandic gathering ran from 19-23 July.
The awards ceremony, hosted by chucklesome actor and comedian Níels Thibaud Girerd, saw the triumph of Sarvik Kaur’s Against the Tide (India/France), which was crowned Best Feature Film. The picture revolves around two friends, Rakesh and Ganesh, who are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families. The Main Competition jury, made up of Anne Georget, Kristín Andrea Þórðardóttir and Petra Seliškar, stated that they were “touched by a film that gives a close-up view of the daily lives of two friends, each living their own way through economic and ecological turmoil”, and highlighted how “the filmmaker offers storytelling of exceptional quality, transporting the audience onto the same boat as the characters”.
Next, a Special Mention was bestowed upon Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Poland/France/Ukraine). In particular, the jury praised the documentary’s ability to “capture unique moments of ultimate loss at a time when displacement is a major and universal issue”.
Meanwhile, the Best Short Film Award went to Light Years by Monika Proba (Poland). The short zooms in on a man called Vitali, who has been dreaming of becoming a priest since he was a child. He’s only one step away – in accordance with the rules of the Orthodox Church, he must find a wife. While waiting for changes, he rents a flat together with a friend from the seminary. The jury, made up of Kasia Kucsynskai, Victor Ede and Ásta Júlía Guðjónsdóttir, was impressed by the “magnificent mix of sensuality, religion, art and fantasy effected in a beautiful portrait of a man facing the contradiction between his desires, and dealing with the weight of tradition and societal expectations”.
In the same category, a Special Mention went to Commander by Viliam Dočolomanský (Czech Republic). The short displays dialogues composed exclusively of fragments of real chats from the neo-Nazi group FKD, which was led by a 13-year-old boy operating under the nickname “Commander”. The jury described the film as “visually appealing and bold in interrogating the limits of documentary language, but most of all, it contains a very strong message and warning about the radicalisation of a young generation”.
Finally, the Audience Award (for the best and most enthusiastic member of the audience) went to Fríða Adriana Martins, who was commended for her great interest in the festival and for her commitment to attending it by taking the bus from Reykjavík each day to be present at every screening and lecture.
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