Go to “Not Just your Picture. The Story of the Kilani Family” by Anne Paq and Dror Dayana won the prize for Best Work in competition at the Al Ard festival . "It tells the story of a Palestinian family (father, mother and five children) who died under the bombings in Gaza, while two other children live in Germany, emblematic of the situation of most Palestinian families dispersed throughout the world", reads the motivation.
The acknowledgment was presented yesterday evening at the conclusion of the 19th edition of the review, at the Teatro Massimo in Cagliari, organized by the Amicizia Sardegna Palestina association, with the contribution of the Department of Performing Arts and Public Education of the Region and sponsored by the Municipality of Cagliari.
The jury, made up of Monica Maurer (director, artistic director of the festival), Patrizia Manduchi (professor of History of Islamic Countries, University of Cagliari), Franca Gabriella Piras (former professor of Italian literature, University of Cagliari, Filippo Kalomenidis (professor and screenwriter), Ibrahim Nasrallah (writer and poet), Wasim Dahmash (former professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Cagliari), Antonello Zanda (director of the Cineteca sarda - Società Umanitaria), Almuhannad Kalthoum (director and organizer of the Damascus festival) , May Odeh (Palestinian producer and director) and Andrea Mura (documentary director and founder of a production company) awarded the five prizes choosing among the 30 films in competition, selected by the examining commission among many proposals (over 100) arriving from the Europe and from all over the Arab world and beyond.
The Award for best film on Palestine went instead to “Erasmus a Gaza”, by Chiara Avesani and Matteo Delbò (Italy, Spain 2021) with the following motivation: “The director describes, through eloquent images, the desperation of a mother who he knows what happened to his soldier son and discovers that 4,000 others like him have been swallowed up in the jaws of ISIS and the Iraqi government after the American occupation”.
The Best Short Award was given to the film "4000 Voices", by the young Iraqi director Sajjad Kwaish who, for shooting the film (2020), was forced into exile.
To the film "Yalla" by Carlo d'Ursi the Prize for the best short fiction documentary assigned by the organization of the Festival.
Finally, the Prize of the Sardinia-Palestinian Association and the Audience Prize went to "Sulla loro pelle" by Marika Ikonomu, Alessandro Leone, Simone Mandail.
«It was a particularly followed and participated edition, a great success with the public - says Fawzi Ismail, president of the Sardinia-Palestine Association - a sign that Al Ard Film Festival has by now become a usual appointment capable of lighting a beacon on issues concerning not only Palestine, but also all the Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq".
«Even the Municipality of Cagliari is close to these topics, and in particular to the Palestinian question – the offspring of Edoardo Tocco, president of the municipal council, on the occasion of the presentation of the event -. We are linked by a long friendship with the Palestinian community present in Sardinia and this festival is its representation».
The screenings were accompanied by meetings with the authors, debates and concerts, such as that of the Palestinian artist Jowan Safadi, who closed the festival on Saturday evening at the Teatro Massimo, and workshops, including the refresher seminar for secondary school teachers of the Province of Cagliari, in collaboration with the professional association "Proteo Fare Sapere", which saw the participation of numerous teachers and lecturers from the University of Cagliari. Furthermore, the students of Cagliari were able to present their cinematographic works to an international jury and the best films were awarded during the Festival.
The Festival jury also wanted to award a special mention to:
“Telling my Son's Land”, by Ilaria Jovine and Roberto Mariotti (Italy 2021);
“Waiting for Faraj Allah”, by Nidal Badarny (Palestine 2020);
“Eulogy for the Dead Sea”, by Polina Teif (Canada 2022);
“The Silent Protest, 1929 Jerusalem”, by Mahasen Nasser-Eldin (Palesina 2019).
(Unioneonline/ss)