‘If These Stones May Discuss,’ ‘Mailin’ Win Thessaloniki Agora Awards

Palestinian director Hana Elias’ “If These Stones May Discuss,” which follows a Palestinian man’s return to his homeland to revive his household’s ancestral backyard, and Argentine filmmaker María Silvia Esteve’s “Mailin,” a few girl’s painful wrestle to beat her childhood trauma, took the highest prizes on the Thessaloniki Documentary Pageant’s business award ceremony Wednesday night time.

Throughout an emotionally charged conclusion to the competition’s Agora strand, by which a number of filmmakers voiced their strident assist for Palestine and known as for a ceasefire to the greater than five-month-old Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza, a tearful Elias took the stage alongside producer Asmahan Bkerat to obtain the highest prize within the Agora’s pitching discussion board, a €10,000 ($10,900) money prize from the Worldwide Rising Movie Skills Assn. (IEFTA).

“This movie’s been occurring for a very long time, and there’s no hope proper now. However we’re so grateful for this award,” she mentioned. “We’re grateful for everybody we’ve met right here, and we wish to see extra Palestinian voices on phases like these. We wish to see all of them given alternatives to return and pitch their tales. Palestinians are those who must be telling their tales proper now.

“I identical to to remind everybody to recollect this movie, on this devastating second, as we’re seeing folks actually being ethnically cleansed and compelled off their land and killed within the…hundreds, we have to keep in mind the great thing about the land that we’re making an attempt to guard and the land that we’re making an attempt to carry onto. The olive timber which might be burned,” she continued. “This movie is telling you that we love these olive timber. There’s a purpose why we’re crying about them. There’s a purpose why we gained’t allow them to go. And I hope that comes by means of on this movie. And with this award, we’ll make that occur.”

The director’s function debut, “If These Stones May Discuss” is a deeply private journey that follows Elias’ father and their household as they return to their Palestinian hometown of Shefa’Amr, the place they work to revive their land and construct a house in a seek for belonging. There they proceed to make use of agrarian practices which have existed for hundreds of years, cultivating a backyard that the director calls a testomony to Palestinian steadfastness.

Describing the documentary as “an pressing story that should be championed,” the jury mentioned in its assertion: “Discovering dwelling, discovering the place you belong and what which means to you, is a basic human want. By tending to your homeland, you nurture your loved ones and nurture the suitable to your private home. With heat and authenticity, this venture portrays a household’s relationship with each one another and their land in an intimate method.”

The highest prize within the Docs in Progress part, the two|35 Put up-Manufacturing Firm Award in post-production companies, went to “Mailin,” from writer-director-producer Esteve, whose earlier documentary, “Silvia,” premiered at IDFA in 2018. The movie makes use of a collage of 2D animation and household archives to inform the story of a woman who for 15 years suffered abuse by the hands of a priest who was jailed and subsequently let loose. Now totally grown, she reemerges from her ache to rewrite her story and educate her daughter the power of latest beginnings.

A visibly moved Esteve appeared with producer Alejandra López to just accept the award. “I’m very grateful for this movie, as a result of by means of this movie, I used to be in a position to meet this unimaginable girl who taught me that regardless of the scale of the injustice that’s dedicated, regardless of how horrible the world we stay in, and regardless of the price of shifting ahead, we simply have to talk up,” she mentioned. “We have to transfer ahead, and we have to converse for change. We have to change issues, as a result of that’s the solely purpose we exist.”

Praising her director for “acknowledging the significance of breaking the silence,” López mentioned: “Let’s all break the silence. Let’s not maintain quiet. Let’s shout and let’s use each platform that we will to ask for a everlasting ceasefire, to ask for justice.”

María Silvia Esteve’s “Mailin” gained the highest prize within the Docs in Progress part.
Courtesy of Hana Movies

The ceremony wrapped an emotional week in Thessaloniki, which was shaken first by a horrific assault on a transgender couple, then by far-right threats to the premiere of Greek filmmaker Elina Psykou’s documentary “Stray Our bodies” that compelled native authorities to ban protests city-wide.

Pageant management has been compelled to defend itself in opposition to an outcry from political and non secular figures over that movie’s provocative poster, which depicts a bare-breasted pregnant girl nailed to a cross. In the meantime, pro-Palestine filmmakers and supporters have staged numerous interventions all through the week, with a number of calling out the competition for not taking a stronger place on the warfare in Gaza.

Opening the award ceremony, competition basic director Elise Jalladeau gave an emphatic assertion on behalf of her workforce’s dedication to creating an open and inclusive area for dialogue.

“Our purpose is to make sure that professionals can trade concepts and work in a protected place, a caring area, to encourage dialogue, and to take heed to all voices, wherever they might come from,” she mentioned. “As soon as once more, we reject all types of exclusion and intolerance, all acts of hatred and violence, [and remain] unshakeable in opposition to warfare and division, in opposition to bloodshed and the slaughter of harmless civilians. We wish to stay a spot of unity, and we’ll at all times arise in favor of peace, coexistence, understanding and the bridging of variations.”

Right here’s the entire listing of winners of the Thessaloniki Documentary Pageant’s Agora awards:

Onassis Movie Award: “Darkish Waters,” Marianna Economou

Thessaloniki Pitching Discussion board Awards

IEFTA Award for Greatest Documentary in Growth: “If These Stones May Discuss,” Hana Elias

ERT – Thessaloniki Pitching Discussion board Award: “Survivors,” Nina-Maria Paschalidou, Maria Louka

Eurodoc Award: “Mountain Cries,” Lavinia Xausa

Aylon Productions Digital Providers Award: “Ladies Stroll Residence,” Stephanie Andreou

Beldocs Networking Award: “Lake,” Nikos Ziogas

Mediterranean Movie Institute Doc Award: “Why the F*** Am I So Unhappy?,” Nela Märki

DOK Leipzig Accelerator Award: “Kafka in Belgrade,” Maša Nešković

Sunny Facet of Doc Award: “Lake,” Nikos Ziogas

Docs in Progress Awards