CinemAmbiente Winners 2008

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Asja PRIZE  7.500 €

Justin Pemberton, THE NUCLEAR COMEBACK

A truly important film about the most important environmental issue of our  times - the fraught decision about how we produce our energy. The director took a complex subject and explained it to the audience in a calm, yet engaging manner. A strong sense of journalistic balance meant the subject  wasn't lost in emotion, as can so often be the case with nuclear energy.  The behind-the-scenes footage at Chernyobyl was an extraordinary achievement and will remain in the memory for years. Excellent.
 

Special Mention:

Robert Nugent, END OF THE RAINBOW

Outstanding cinemaphotography combined with incredible access to the subject made this film an unforgetable experience. We witness two opposite worlds collide with a terrible combination of injustice, imperialism and environmental exploitation. A rare view of a hidden world.

 
Andrew Nisker, GARBAGE! THE REVOLUTION STARTS AT HOME

 A simple, but effective experiment that helps to expose the way all our decisions and lifestyle choices can impact on the environment, both locally and further afield. This is information everyone should know. The film speaks directly to the MTV generation in a style that is engaging and motivating. Importantly, the audience is shown the way towards solutions rather than be left in dispair.


 

CPS TURIN PRIZE

CPS Prize 1.500 €

Shaheen Dill-Riaz,  IRONEATERS

The non-professional jury of the Turin Province Student Council awards Shaheen Dill-Riaz’s film Ironeaters in support of the director’s denouncing the violation of human rights, as exemplified by the situation in Bangladesh. Dill-Riaz paints the cruel reality of working conditions through a distanced cinematographic language that engages the viewer, depicting the character of individual workers by operating simple choices: a bare minimum of music that holds back the viewer’s understanding of the plot, while gradually feeding into the viewer’s awareness and emotions; the stark contrast between the first part, with its dream-like overtones, the striking second part, and the shifting viewpoint that gives a global vision of the context and the atmosphere. We wish to express our appreciation of all the documentaries that raised our awareness and emotions and helped us to grow, driving home the point that our way of looking at things is not necessarily the only one. 

Special Mention:

Kazuka Yamada per il film PUUJEE

Pujee has an extraordinary ability to communicate feelings and address the socio-environmental issues in present day Mongolia. The film masterfully describes the customs and traditions of a culture so far from ours yet so surprisingly wise.

SPECIAL MENTION GREEN CROSS

Kazuka Yamada, PUUJEE

Kazuya Yamada for Pujee because of the director’s ability to recount the events of a 10-year story simply and engagingly: the result is a work that expresses both passion and poetry.

Hartmut Bitomski, STAUB

Hartmut Bitomski for Staub because the director provides a starting point for thinking about ecology, combining daily conundrums with concern about the global ecologic crisis. The film effectively interweaves philosophical reflections into the scenarios.

ITALIAN DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

CIAL prize  5.000 €

Cafi Mohamud and Luca Cusani, CRY SEA – Il mare piange

The film effectively presents an urgent global problem, the economic exploitation of the oceans by commercial interests, starting from a local context (Senegal), while taking a hard yet poetic look at the intricacies and complexities of power structures. A documentary guided by enquiry that takes into account contradictory decisions made by the few and the powerful, with consequences for those denied participation in decision making.

Special Mention:

Rossella Schillaci and Giancorrado Barozzi, LA FIUMA, INCONTRI SUL PO E DINTORNI

With nostalgia and evocative imagery, the film portrays the atmosphere and humanity of a region at risk of becoming an archeological relict. Living testimony to centuries-long ties with the land and the river, the men and women display genuine dignity with gentle humor and tender poetry.

SPECIAL MENTION LEGAMBIENTE

Cafi Mohamud and Luca Cusani, CRY SEA -  Il mare piange

Two young authors coming from different cultures succeeded in  telling  two points of view where north and south of the world interlace: from one side the respect for the sea as primary source of subsistence, from the other the condemnation for its excessive esploitation.  The narration flows smoothly getting the audience involved till to the end.   It calls to our minds a saying of Sierra Leone “When fishes cry, nobody sees their tear".

INTERNATIONAL SHORTS ANIMATION COMPETITION

IED Prize 2.500 € 

Marina Rosset, LA MAIN DE L’OURS

The film is a frank, poetic statement on the environment straightforwardly expressed with graphic and narrative effectiveness.

Special Mention to:

Soutif Christelle per ARROSEZ LES BIEN 

The film makes plain to young audiences the risks of genetic manipulation in agriculture and the dangers that may arise from such use.

Juan Pablo Etcheverry per LA FLOR MAS GRANDE DEL MUNDO

the film retells to stunning visual effect a modern fable by José Saramago, one of today’s great living poets. 

SPECIAL PRIZE GOLDER ASSOCIATES

Golder Associates Prize 5.000 € 

Sanjeev Chatterjee and Alì Habashi, ONE WATER

The film represents with powerful images and the opinions and thoughts of many political, scientific, and spiritual leaders one of the major environmental crisis of the present days.  The social, economical and environmental dimensions of sustainable development are all addressed with a correct scientific approach and a balance of opinions from different interest groups, cultures and locations. Local and global issues are well connected and not only the material aspects of the problem but also its spiritual dimension is presented so that the images can appeal and transfer a powerful message to a wide variety of people.