Victory for Makhmalbaf
The 29th Ecumenical Jury Award has been won by 23-year-old Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, for her third feature film entitled A cinq heures de l’après-midi.
The six-man jury is the only one authorised to vote for films in the official selection, on a par with the official Competition jury and the International Film Critics’ Fipresci Awards, and the Ecumenical Award always goes to films that distinguish themselves for their profound spiritual aspects.Last year’s winner was Finn Aki Kaurismäki for The Man Without A Past.
Produced by Makhmalbaf’s father’s production company, and co-produced by France’s Wildbunch and Bac Films, A cinq heures de l’après-midi follows the everyday life of an Afghan family after the fall of the Taliban. The Ecumenical jury appreciated the “poetry and political portrayal of the relationship between tradition and modernity” and they also found the film’s emphasis on "the role that women must play in rebuilding their society" worthy of note.
(Translated from French)
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