At the 40th DOK.FEST Munich, the ARTE co-production Silent Observers wins the Viktoria Dok.Puratational Main Competition Prize. The Arte co-production Writing Hawa can look forward to the audience award of the festival.
Eliza Petkova was awarded the Viktoria Dok.Stunational Main Competition for her film Silent Observers (RBB/Arte, Red Carpet, Wood Water Films, Bulgaria/Germany 2024).
To the content:
From the perspective of six animals, we observe the residents of a remote Bulgarian mountain village. They move around them with charm and curiosity through the everyday life of people around them. This experimental and musical film reflects the question: What value do animals actually have for us?
From the jury justification:
“We come closer in an unusual and creative way, look at people – and also look at through the canvas. Every small detail of the film appears meticulously planned, including the bold experimental and disturbing soundtrack. The local traditions are obvious.
Najiba Noori and Rasul Noori were awarded the audience award for their film Writing Hawa (Arte France, Tag Film, Afghanistan/France/Netherlands/Qatar 2024).
To the content:
The film portrays three generations of Afghan women and combines this passant with impressive recordings of a country on the crossroads. Hawa, who had to marry as a teenager and the mother of the filmmaker, raises a business with handmade clothing in his mid -50s and finally learns to read and write. Najiba, her daughter and the director, was able to grow up emancipated not least thanks to her mother. Zahra, the 14-year-old niece of the filmmaker, is thrown out of her father’s house and recorded by Hawa. But then the Taliban Kabul take up. “I had five minutes to make a decision,” says Najiba, who completed the film from her exile in France.
About the author and director:
Najiba Noori made reports for Huffington Post, doctors without borders and un Women. In 2022 she took part in the IDFA Academy. Due to the takeover in Afghanistan, she went to France in 2021. Writing Hawa is her first long documentary. Her brother and co-director Rasul Noori took over the camera work after Najiba Noori had to flee from the Taliban.
OTS original text press release with the exclusive in terms of content of the sender – www.ots.at | Eun