DocNomads films awarded in festivals

By Angie Obeid • 23' • Belgium

Synopsis:

Whenever I walk through the dark reddish hallways to reach my apartment, whenever I would look out of my windows and dive into that expended view of the city of Brussels, unusual feelings would emerge... until the day I read an article about my building PACIFIC, entitled “the suicide tower”.

Trailer here.

Festival selections:

• Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival, Switzerland
• HOTDOCS International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
• Carthage Film Festival, Tunisia – Silver Tanit award for Short Documentaries

By Atsushi Kuwayama • 27’ • Portugal

Synopsis:

A broken-hearted Japanese man and his Indian friend go on a pilgrimage in an old camper van in search for a sacred spring in southern Portugal. They experience a variety of encounters travelling through one of the most depopulated and suicidal regions in Europe toward the legendary destination. The film offers a glimpse into a way of living in Portugal, and by capturing the tragicomedy of meeting and parting it becomes a hopeful call for otherness and empathy.

Trailer here.

Festival selections:

• Visions du Réel International Documentary Film Festival, Switzerland
• IndieLisboa International Film Festival, Portugal – Schools Award for best film in the Portuguese Competition

By Xinyang Meng • 22’ • Portugal

Synopsis:

Pitões das Junias is a village isolated in the rocky mountains of northeastern Portugal. At the end of the day the shepherds gather to talk and tell stories about things that have happened, or maybe not ... The legends and stories of old times that they tell again and again are inspired by their isolation in the mountains, stemming from the villagers confrontation with the dangers hidden amidst the wild environment that surrounds them.

Trailer here.

Festival selections:

• HOTDOCS International Film Festival, Canada
• Guanajuato International Film Festival, Mexico – Best International Short Documentary award
• IndieLisboa International Film Festival, Portugal
• Trento Film Festival, Italy
• MakeDox - Creative Documentary Film Festival, Macedonia
• Tehran International Short Film Festival, Iran – Best Documentary award
• Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, USA
• FIKE - International Short Film Festival, Portugal – Best Documentary award
• Festival Int. du Film Ethnographique du Québec, Canada
• Akbank Short Film Festival, Turkey
• World Film Festival, Estonia
• Indy Film Fest Indianapolis Museum of Art, USA
• Ethnocineca – Int. Documentary Film Festival Vienna, Austria
• Regard – Festival Int. du Court Métrage au Saguenay, Canada
• Sound & Image Challenge International Festival, Macau
• Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival, Canada
• Aesthetica Short Film Festival, United Kingdom
• Wolves Independent International Film Festival, Lithuania
• Nahal international Student Short Film Festival
• Star Film Fest, Croacia
• Bellaria Film Festival, Italy

By Bronte Stahl • 13' • Belgium

Synopsis:

The geography of the otherwise flat city of Charleroi is defined by slag heaps - hills formed from the waste material from coal mines. Filmed entirely from these terrils themselves, the film weaves large-scale industrial tragedy with the poeticism of ecological rebirth through a data-driven narration in which the terrils are the protagonists

Trailer here.

Festival selections:

• International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Leuven International Short Film Festival, Belgium
• Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad” – Award for Most Creative Storytelling
• Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA
• Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Sweden
• ZINEBI International Festival of Documentary and Short Film, Spain
• CinemAmbiente Environmental Film Festival Torino, Italy
• Alchemy Film & Arts Festival, UK
• CinemaForum International Short Film Festival, Poland
• InScience Film Festival, Netherlands
• Pravo Ljudski Film Festival, Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Porto Post/Doc, Portugal – Youth Award