Israeli Competition

Director: Peter Kerekes | Producers: Peter Kerekes, Ivan Ostrochovský, Ivana Kurincová, Jiří Konečný, Denis Ivanov, Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda

Jury Statement

Peter Kerekes's film moves on the border between documentary and plot, the plot axis is based on research and true stories and follows a group of inmates and one warden, murderous women who become mothers in prison. The cast consists of unprofessional actresses and well-known actresses who all move on a plot axis and produce authenticity and mesmerizing emotional power.

In a grim and frozen brutal reality, an unusual human fabric is revealed and breaks stereotypes. The warden who begins the film as a cruel and tough character whose control and conversion is her main strength develops connection and emotion and compassion towards the prisoners and babies and is exposed as a lonely woman longing for love that the prisoners become her whole world. They tell of the murder in a directly cruel, cold and remorseful way. Obedience as prisoners who have committed a brutal murder and the softness and emotion they exhibit in front of the infants produces a moral and emotional complexity.

The film is built from a survivalist and cruel daily routine that reveals a fabric of life, loneliness and existential difficulty on both sides alongside magical human moments.

A moving and extraordinary cinematic experience.

Directors: Lars Edman, William Johansson Kalén | Producers: Andreas Rocksen, William Johansson Kalén

Jury Statement

We salute the filmmakers’ courage and persistence in standing by the innocent victims of the small Chilean city Arica, who were mortally wounded by corporate and legal injustice. The jury wishes to acknowledge the film’s intelligent aesthetics, its wise narratological maneuvering, and its protagonist’s charismatic yet humble pursuit of truth, all with the goal of reminding us that we are responsible for our actions anywhere anytime.

Director: Garin Hovannisian | Producers: Garin Hovannisian, Alec Mouhibian, Eric Esrailian, Tatevik Manoukyan

Jury Statement

The film presents the riveting story of one man whose unyielding commitment to the ideals of democracy, solidarity, and social justice guides him in his quest to overthrow a ruling system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

With intensity as electric and unrelenting as its central character, I Am Not Alone excites and educates as much as it inspires hope in the possibility that what is right, just, and good can prevail over those who seek to suppress such ideals.

Directors: Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel | Producer: Iris Lammmertsma

Jury Statement

Shadow Game is a rare social and artistic document that gently exposes its fragile yet bold protagonists, reminding us that we do not have the privilege of further averting our gaze from tens of millions of displaced people around the globe, Shadow Game with its persistent camera presence, acknowledges their suffering and the injustice that our politics inflicts on them.