Montreal, Saturday, November 26, 2022 – The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) ends tomorrow, Sunday, November 27. The award winners for this 25th edition were announced during the closing ceremony that took place this evening at the Cinéma Impérial.
GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE presented by TV5
One Take Grace by Lindiwe Matshikiza (South Africa)
“This exceptional film draws the portrait of a woman that does not exist in cinema, that does not have a voice in cinema, who doesn’t film and produce images – historically. This film inverts a long history of inferiozation and silencing, the long tradition of the black mammy reduced to a stereotypical second role, into a flamboyant homage, written, sang and incarnated in the first person, by and from Grace. Grace is a survivor from the apartheid, from rape, from domination, from misery. But before anything else, Mothiba Grace Bapela is an artist, a filmmaker, an actress, who co-signed the scenario of the movie with its director, Lindiwe Matshikiza, and who brings us on the roads of introspection and collective healing. The cut, the use of fix and animated archives, the sound creation and music, the extraordinary relationship created between Grace and us, the joy of the experimentation with the form, made this cathartic film a transformative experience for us. Congratulations to the filmmaker for this movie that will live on.“
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE – INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Dry Ground Burning by Adirley Queirós and Joana Pimenta (Brazil, Portugal)
“This film was pure fire and a punch in the face! In this powerful and singular act of cinema, we salute the long-term work carried out with the protagonists and the community of Ceilandia, which results in a powerful political fable about Bolsonaro's racist and ecocidal Brazil, and the proud opposition led by those on the margins, embodied by black, queer and strong women, who have returned from prison and are determined to live their lives as they see fit. A Brazilian variation of Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames, a feminist Mad Max, Dry Ground Burning is a complete artistic project, photographic, musical, anthropological and theatrical. The award goes to the bold direction, but also to the entire community that helped create this film.”
A special mention is given to Anhell69 de Theo Montoya (Colombia, Romania, France, Germany)
The International Feature Competition Jury was composed of Stefan Pavlovic (filmmaker), Nora Philippe (EURODOC director), Sarah Ouazzani (programmer and distributor), Veton Nurkollari (artistic director of Dokufest, Kosovo), and Gugi Gumilang (director of In-Docs, Indonesia).
GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST NATIONAL FEATURE presented by PRIM
The Dependents by Sofía Brockenshire (Canada, Argentina)
“A layered film with a broad geopolitical view over the complex power structures of rich and poor, and men and women. A delicate, profound and nuanced perspective, looking simultaneously back and forwards through the captivating vehicle of a personal narrative and the memory written over time.“
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE – NATIONAL FEATURE
Self-Portrait by Joële Walinga (Canada)
“This film renders a complex investigation about the future and the past of the images in our daily lives, through a particularly provocative dynamic. It reminds us of the very beginning of moving images and its link with contemporary digital technologies. In a playful way, the film creates an instigating meditation on attention, presence and the mechanics of looking, remembering how these topics are political issues in our historical time.”
NEW VISIONS AWARD presented by the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM) and Post-Moderne
Veranada by Dominique Chaumont (Canada)
“A film in which the treatment is filled with patience and subtlety, and the form and content harmoniously depicts a vivid yet fragile environment. This young filmmaker gracefully captured themes, emotions and thoughts with a minimalistic and unforced approach.”
The National Feature Competition and New Visions Jury was composed of Juliano Gomes (Brazilian film critic and programmer), Sophie Bédard Marcotte (filmmaker), and Diana El Jeiroudi (Syrian filmmaker).
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM
Fuku Nashi by Julie Sando (Switzerland, Japan)
“A film that demonstrates the courage to reclaim one’s origins; or at the very least it is an attempt to find one’s identity. With honesty, maturity and a singular attention to detail, the filmmaker constructs a mise-en-scène that portrays the beauty of the everyday, bridging gaps between generations, cultures and lost bonds.”
A special mention is given to No Star by Tana Gilbert Fernández (Chile).
BEST NATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM presented by Télé-Québec | La Fabrique culturelle and SLA Location
Landscape Suspended by Naghmeh Abbasi (Canada, Iran)
“A film that is both a political and deeply personal reflection on the representation of place. Poetically combining different layers of meaning, the film is a visual and sonic cartography that moves seamlessly between the surface of the screen and that of the Kurdish mountains.”
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE, NATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM presented by Paraloeil
Infinite Distances by Pablo Alvarez Mesa (Quebec/Canada)
“For creating the space for the imagination through the absence of images, and in turn underscoring the importance of cinema as a collective experience.”
A special mention is given to Mecánicos piratas de Lima by Carlos Ferrand (Canada, Peru).
The Short and Medium-Length competitions Jury was composed of Caroline Bergoin (producer), Camila Macedo (programmer, researcher and Brazilian filmmaker), and Emily Gan (photograph, editor and filmmaker).
MAGNUS ISACSSON AWARD presented in collaboration with ARRQ, DOC Québec, Funambules Médias, Cinema Politica and Main Film
The Myth of the Black Woman by Ayana O' Shun (Quebec/Canada)
“A film that once again unfortunately speaks to injustices that, if not overtly denied, remain unacknowledged or unrecognized. This important film uses a classical yet extremely effective discursive approach, in a dynamic mix of affirmative speech, sensual imagery, and a finely tuned musical score. By giving voice to its subjects, whose testimonies leave no room for doubt, the film asserts itself as a powerful force for popular education and mobilisation.”
A special mention is given to Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace by Heather Hatch (Canada).
The jury for the Magnus Isacsson Award was composed of Marie Boti (Funambules Média), Lamia Chraibi (Main Film), Jocelyne Clarke (producer, director and editor), Mireille Dansereau (ARRQ), Alexandra Guité (Cinema Politica), and Amy Miller (DOC Québec).
STUDENT JURY AWARD presented by Desjardins
Geographies of Solitude by Jacquelyn Mills (Canada)
“For its treatment of the image imbued with originality. For the beauty, the delicacy and the symbiosis of the different facets of the work. But above all, for the relevance of its message which, in addition to having touched our values as members of the student jury, must resonate in all spheres of our society.”
The jury for the Student Award was composed of Chloé Bouffard (Cégep Édouard-Montpetit), Victor Guo (Marianopolis College), and Vincent Bélisle (Cégep André-Laurendeau).
WOMEN INMATE JURY AWARD in partnership with Telefilm Canada, the Quebec chapter of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal conclue entre la Ville de Montréal et le gouvernement du Québec.
Big Fight in Little Chinatown by Karen Cho (Canada)
“For the relevance of its speakers, its relationship to reality and its moving highlighting of the problems experienced by different communities in preserving their cultural heritage, as well as for the passionate and methodical realization of the filmmaker.”
The women inmates’ jury is composed of six inmates of the Joliette Institution, the only federal women’s penitentiary in Quebec. They named their favourite documentary from among seven films in this year’s festival. This initiative was launched by the RIDM in 2011.
The PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD presented by the Canada Media Fund (NOUS | MADE)
Big Fight in Little Chinatown by Karen Cho (Canada)
THANK YOU TO THE RIDM’S PARTNERS
The RIDM wishes to acknowledge the support of the following institutional, main, and associate partners, who have contributed to the success of this 25th edition. Thanks to the Government of Québec, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, SODEC, the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, Telefilm Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Montreal, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, the Centre des Services aux Entreprises - Intégration en emploi (Emploi-Québec), the ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, Télé-Québec, Crave, the Canada Media Fund, Radio-Canada, the CSN, TV5, Post-Moderne, the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM), PRIM, the Cinémathèque québécoise, as well as Benoît Parent and Arthur Gaumont-Marchand.
The 25th edition of RIDM runs until November 27
at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma du Musée,
Cinéplex Odéon Quartier Latin, and Cinéma Impérial.
Information and ticketing: ridm.ca
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Media contact: Caroline Rompré | pixelleX communications | 514-778-9294 | caroline@pixellex.ca