DocNomads films awarded in Ji.hlava, Czech Republic
First Birthday After the Apocalypse, directed by Farah Hasanbegović, won the top prize in the Short Joy competition for Best Short Documentary at Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.
Also in Ji.hlava, the graduation film “To Feather, to Wither”, directed by Hanna Hovitie, won a Special Mention in the Silver Eye Award for best short documentary promoted by the Institute of Documentary Film at East Silver Market.
By Farah Hasanbegović • 7' • Hungary
Synopsis:
The end of the world has been coming for years. In a crossover between a cooking show and animated images, a girl recalls her first encounter with depression.
In her autobiographical documentary, the young director uses cartoon impressions, photographic memories, and the various stages of baking a cake to draw the viewer into her own stream of consciousness, and using images full of kindness, tenderness, and playfulness, she deals with the sadness that began during a children's birthday party many years ago.
In Ji.hlava catalogue.
Trailer here.
By Hanna Hovitie • 20' • Hungary
Synopsis:
A young taxidermist is fascinated by crows, paying considerate attention to their dead bodies. Her work on the birds is simultaneously a careful study of anatomical connections and a kind of service toward the resurrection of this mythical creature from the realm between life and death. Through detailed, pulsating black-and-white images and a sparingly intense soundtrack, a charged atmosphere unfolds between craftsmanship, imagination and poetry.
Ralph Eue, in DOKLeipzig catalogue.