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Magnus Gertten’s “Nelly & Nadine” (EIDF) |
Seven works were announced as winners in the EBS International Documentary Festival’s competition sections at the awards ceremony held at EBS Space Hall in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday.
“Nelly & Nadine,” directed by Magnus Gertten, won the grand prix while “Jason,” by Maasja Ooms, won the special jury award and the audience award in the Festival Choice: Global section.
“Nelly & Nadine” revolves around a love story of two women who arrive in Sweden after emancipation from the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany at the end of World War II.
“Jason” is the final piece in Ooms’ trilogy on the issue of the youth welfare system in the Netherlands. The film follows a 22-year-old man who is deeply traumatized by severe domestic violence and sexual abuse as a child.
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Wei Shengze’s “The Fading Nomads” (EIDF) |
The winner of the grand prix in the Festival Choice: Asia section, “The Fading Nomads” by Wei Shengze, centers on the last remaining Mongolian nomadic family living in the borderlands of Xinjiang, and their struggles to maintain the nomadic lifestyle against waves of globalization and capitalism. The director recorded the family for 18 years.
Mai Masri’s “Beirut: Eyes of the Storm,” which won the special jury award, features four women who voice their opinions against discrimination in the turbulent times in Lebanon in 2019.
The audience award winner, Jafar Najafi’s “Makeup Artist,” tells a story of a young mother called Mina, who dreams of becoming a makeup artist, and her husband who dislikes her social activities.
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Ananta Thitanat’s “Scala” (EIDF) |
Meanwhile, a newly established Youth Eye Award, in which students from Gyeonggi Film Student Association were on the jury, selected Ananta Thitanat’s “Scala” as the winner. The film captures Bangkok’s last surviving independent theater, “Scala,” which closed in July 2020 amid the pandemic.
Under the slogan “Pitch Your Dream,” the seven-day festival returned this year with in-person ceremonies and screenings. A total of 63 documentary films from 24 countries were selected for the festival.
All the winning films are available through D-BOX, EIDF’s VOD service.
By Hwang Dong-hee (
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com)
