RIDM 2016 Award Winners

Award winners of the 19^th Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)

The 19^th edition of the RIDM ends on Sunday, November 20, 2016.

The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) award winners in different competitions were revealed on November 19, 2016, during the closing ceremony that took place at Concordia University - SGWU Alumni Auditorium (H-110).

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“To a film that displays an astonishing range in its personal social depiction of working class China, all while adhering to rigorous formal constraints”, the Best International Feature Award, presented by Bell Media, went to Another Year directed by Shengze Zhu.

The jury extended a special mention to Tempestad directed by Tatiana Huezo.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN AN INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“For its brazen go-for-broke visual style”, the jury gave the Best Cinematography Award to Brothers of the Night directed by Patric Chiha.

BEST EDITING IN AN INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“For making a multi-layered essay on the global politics of the refugee crisis out of what amounts to a single image”, the Best Editing Award was given to Havarie directed by Philip Scheffner.

The jurors for the International Feature competition were Inti Cordera, Penny Lane, Khoa Lê, Rachael Rakes and Ingrid Veninger.

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE

“The jury was moved by this luminous film, which gives us an intimate and privileged look at all that is universal in the search for love and in our eternal need to build meaning”. They awarded Carlo Guillermo Proto for Resurrecting Hassan.

A special mention was given to Tales of Two Who Dreamt directed by Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda.

BEST NEW TALENT FROM QUEBEC/CANADA

“The jury was mesmerized by the passion with which the filmmaker works toward an aesthetic of resistance by capturing the sensuality of the fighters’ movements”. The award for the Best New Talent, presented by Post-Moderne, was awarded to Zaynê Akyol’s Gulîstan, Land of Roses.

The jurors for the Canadian Feature competition were Miriam Fahmy, Jean-François Lesage and Jean-François Ruel.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM

The award for the Best International Short or Medium-Length Film went to Isabella Morra directed by Isabel Pagliai. “This tender yet brutal film shows us a world where children are free and powerful, the masters of their kingdom. A direct film in which the most prosaic aspects of everyday life become fantastical; a post-apocalyptic work of shocking beauty”.

The jury was also unanimous in awarding two special mentions to celebrate the rich diversity of today’s documentary cinema. They went to Long Story Short directed by Natalie Bookchin and He Who Eats Children directed by Ben Russell.

BEST CANADIAN SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM

“Because it transports the viewer to a distant, little-known world. It is a beautiful, sensitive depiction of one man’s memories, hopes, regrets and struggles”. The award for the Best Canadian Short or Medium-Length Film went to The Botanist by Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis

The jurors in the Short and Medium-Length competitions were Xavier de la Vega, Gustavo Beck and Nadine Gomez.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Presented by TV5, the People’s Choice Award was given to the audience’s favourite documentary from the Official Competition and Panorama sections. The audience has chosen Le goût d’un pays, directed by Francis Legault.

MAGNUS ISACSSON AWARD

The Magnus Isacsson Award was created to honour the beloved Montreal documentary filmmaker Magnus Isacsson and is presented to a socially conscious work by an emerging Canadian director. Presented by the ARRQ, Cinema Politica, DOC Québec and Main Film, the award went to Alethea Arnaquq-Baril for Angry Inuk.

A special mention went to the The Stairs directed by Hugh Gibson.

The members of the Magnus Isacsson Award jury were Jocelyne Clarke, Nicolas Paquet (DOC Québec), Helen Doyle (ARRQ), Frank Le Coroller (assistant director) and Svetla Turnin (Cinema Politica).

STUDENT AWARD

The student award is given to a film from the Canadian Feature section. This initiative is part of the RIDM’s youth program. “For having immersed us in a reality that is very close to us and yet obscure, and for its disturbing, intimate perspective”, the Student Award, supported by the CSN and Telefilm Canada, went to Carlo Guillermo Proto for Resurrecting Hassan.

A special mention was also given to The Stairs directed by Hugh Gibson.

WOMEN INMATES’ AWARD

The Inmates’ Jury is made up of five inmates of the Joliette Institution who award one the eight movies from the Official Competition and Panorama section, screened for them. Audrey, Sylvianne, Sonia, Roxanne and Lynn have chosen Angry Inuk directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril. “Its wonderful, meticulous direction highlighted the beauty of northern landscapes. Its powerful portrayal of a united people moved us. It took us outside our comfort zone, showed us every facet of a reality, and even changed our minds. Lastly, we want to salute the director’s commitment to her cause”.

They also gave a special mention to Mr Gaga directed by Tomer Heymann. The Women Inmates’ Award is possible thanks to Telefilm Canada, the Quebec chapter of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal. The project is supported by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the Ville de Montréal.

Quebec’s only film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival presents the best reality‐based films, including the works of established directors and new talents.

For more information visit the RIDIM website.

RIDM 2016 - Brothers

Brothers  /  Brødre

By Aslaug Holm

QUEBEC PREMIERE
Portraits
Norway / 2015 / 110 min. / Norwegian, English s.-t.

For eight years, Oslo filmmaker Aslaug Holm filmed her two sons, Markus and Lukas, from childhood to adolescence, creating a poignant ode to the passage of time and to evolving dreams.

The film is a documentary chronicle of two brothers growing. Aslung Holm filmed her two sons, recording their fears, problems, what they liked and disliked, their general growing up difficulties, desires and uncertainties. It is a very sensitive film that everybody can relate to, not only the parents or the growing up children. The film also conveys a lot of motherly concern and love through the vehicle of her documentary film diary of her two boys. It is as if she were trying to capture a moment and hold it still for an eternal memory, knowing too well that her children will grow up very quickly, will become adults, and those moment of the motherly feelings she projected for them through her filming when they were small will also undergo some changes.

In addition, the film chronicles the family history and roots, and presents some stunning though austere Norwegian scenery

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

“What are childhood and adolescence made of? Which memories do we keep? What’s going on there? For more than eight years, in their Oslo apartment and at their cottage, on playgrounds and at school, filmmaker Aslaug Holm filmed her two children: Markus, who dreams of playing soccer professionally, and Lukas, who asks the big questions about the universe. With uncanny sensitivity, she captured the little moments that contain the seeds of the future. The winner of the international competition at Hot Docs, Brothers is a deeply beautiful ode to life, the passage of time and childhood dreams. Every frame is imbued with stunning sensitivity. The film is reminiscent of Boyhood by Richard Linklater – for real this time.”

PRODUCTION TEAM:

COUNTRY : NORWAY
YEAR : 2015
V.O : NORWEGIAN
SUBTITLES : ENGLISH
DURATION : 110 MIN
CINEMATOGRAPHY : ASLAUG HOLM
EDITING : HILDE BJØRNSTAD, ASLAUG HOLM, ANDERS TEIGEN
PRODUCTION : FENRIS FILM, TORE BUVARP
SOUND DESIGN : BENT HOLM, STIG HOLTE, ESPEN RØNNING

Visit The RIDM Festival website for programming and scheduleS.

FILM TRAILER

RIDM 2016 Programming

The Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM)

19th Edition

November 10 - 20, 2016

The annual Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) is a key event for everyone who appreciates the art of the documentary. This year, it will offer 128 films from 35 countries and more than 100 guests.

The festival will present 13 world premieres, 18 North American premieres, 24 Canadian premieres and 31 Quebec premieres, and will inaugurate a new competition for Canadian short and medium-length films. RIDM is a key springboard for emerging artists and local productions.

The festival will open with the Quebec premiere of Fire at Sea by Gianfranco Rosi. The film is a unique immersion in the everyday life of Lampedusa, an Italian island famous for being the European landing point for numerous refugees. The film won the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and establishes Gianfranco Rosi as one of today’s great documentary filmmakers, thanks to a rare aesthetic sensibility and a willingness to confront the major issues of the day – themes echoed in the rest of the festival’s 2016 line-up. The film is presented in collaboration with Amnesty International Canada (French Branch) and distributed by EyeSteelFilm.

The festival will close with Freelancer on the Front Lines by Santiago Bertolino (Carré rouge sur fond noir), an all-access look at the life of Jesse Rosenfeld, a freelance journalist who covers conflict zones. An essential film that helps us understand how the written media interpret global issues in the age of Twitter and 24-hour news cycles. It is produced and distributed by the NFB and will open across Quebec in spring 2017.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

11 awards will be presented to the makers of winning films in four competitive sections.

International feature competition

The 11 films in the international feature competition, presented by Bell Media, are a strong, varied group that testifies to the creativity, diversity and relevance of reality-based cinema.

Documentary cinema has always presented powerful socio-political reflections through the prism of intimate stories:

Another Year (Shengze Zhu), one working class family’s dinners inspire viewers to ponder the challenges facing a large part of China’s population;

We’ll Be Alright (Alexander Kuznetsov) follows the struggles of two young Russian women locked up in a psychiatric hospital for life;

Tempestad (Tatiana Huezo) the stories of two protagonists on a poetic odyssey, revealing the tragedy of human trafficking in Mexico;

Mixed Feelings (Guy Davidi), a small Tel Aviv apartment turned into acting school is the improbable scene of group therapy surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

The Great Wall (Tadhg O’Sullivan) and

Havarie (Philip Scheffner) both experiment with the documentary form as a way of documenting the current migrant crisis;

Calabria (Pierre-François Sauter), a tenderly existential road movie;

Il Solengo (Alessio Rigo De Righi and Matteo Zoppis), a playful investigation set in rural Italy;

Kate Plays Christine, a fake making-of that lays bare the actor’s profession. Director Robert Greene’s refusal to make a distinction between fiction and documentary in Kate Plays Christine, to better shatter his actress’s mystery;

Brothers of the Night (Patric Chiha), an exploration of Vienna’s nighttime underworld reminiscent of Fassbinder and Kenneth Anger;

The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams), a journey filmed on three continents. The latter two works are both essential films about marginalized youth in a globalized world.

Canadian feature competition

The ten films in the Canadian feature competition are as diverse and ambitious as their international counterparts, travelling the world and exploring every documentary approach.

Prison in Twelve Landscapes is an original essay by Brett Story on the devastating impacts of the American penal system;
Angry Inuk is an important and essential cri de coeur by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, presenting the Inuit perspective on the seal hunt;
Gulîstan, Land of Roses is an impressive, masterful and sensitive first film by Zaynê Akyol, filmed among a group of PKK women soldiers;
Living with Giants a sadly poetic portrait of two young Inuit by Aude Leroux-Lévesque and Sébastien Rist;
Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John by Chelsea McMullanan elusive, surreal story of a family;
Tales of Two Who Dreamt, the story of the making of a Gide and Kafka-influenced film as told by Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda; 
The Stairs by Hugh Gibson, and 
Resurrecting Hassan by Carlo Guillermo Proto, two deeply humanistic chronicles;
Quebec My Country Mon Pays by John Walker, a personal film that unpacks the divisions between Quebec’s anglphone and francophone communities;
Combat au bout de la nuit by Sylvain L’Espérance, an epic, politically aware, eclectic work about the recent upheavals in Greece; it is L’Espérance’s most ambitious film yet.

For more information about the RIDM documentary film festival, the programming, and film projection schedules, visit the RIDM website.