Awards 2009

The 7th edition of the Paris International Film Festival on Human Rights (FIFDH) ended with the prize-giving ceremony.

The members of jury for the “Creative Documentaries” category were : Stéphane Hessel, Bruno Gaccio (Canal+) and the director Simon Bitton (Le Mur).

The Grand Prix was awarded to the film "No comment" (France, 2008, 52mn) by Nathalie Loubeyre :
They are Afghans, Iraqis, Kurds, Palestinians, Eritreans, Somalis, Sudanese... They fled war, massacres, insecurity, misery. Six years after the closure of Sangatte, there are still just as many trying to reach Great Britain. Unprotected from the elements, deprived of everything, including their own identities, the signs of which they erase even from their own bodies, harassed by the police, they roam in the town of Calais, and survive thanks to local associations that feed them. Without becoming attached to any of them, with no voice-over nor interview, the film describes this survival, in the heart of the town which seems to have integrated them into its landscape. The director stated : « I would like to dedicate this award to all the men and women who in Calais and elsewhere, flee misery, insecurity, and who we no longer know how to welcome and protect, who we reject into no-law zones, and who we try to erase from the landscape and from our conscience, but who are nevertheless there. Men and women who, despite their suffering and exhaustion, often give us lessons in life and in dignity. I also dedicate this award to all those who, individually or collectively, stand up to help them, no matter the risks and who restore some meaning to the word «fraternity».

A documentary film at the heart of French political debate echoing the fiction "Welcome" currently a big on-screen success. "No comment" is looking for a distributor and television broadcast.

The special Jury Prize was given to the film "Tout l'or du monde" (France, 82mn, 2007) by the Australian Robert Nugent:

"Tout l’or du monde" follows the disruption caused by the setting-up of a mining multinational in the life of the villagers and their environment. A real tragedy in this region of Guinea where, depending on the season, one works as a farmer but also as a miner. From the village storyteller to the chief engineer nearing retirement, this exemplary documentary presents two incompatible views of the world around their relationship to the precious metal and captures the dramatic (and irreversible) changes brought about by globalization.

The members of jury for the “Dossiers et Grands reportages” category : Marie Monique Robin, director (Le monde selon Monsanto), Robin Shuffield, director (Thomas Sankara) and Fréderic Debomy (president of the Collectif Infos Birmanie) chose to award the Grand Prix to the film "Shadow of the Holy Book" by Arto Halonen (Finlande, 2008, 90 mn) :
Why do the biggest multinationals translate the Ruhnama in their native language, a book of grotesque presidential propaganda? «Shadow of the holy book» reveals the turpitude of these companies who in order to take over the access to Turkmenistan’s resources in gas and petrol indulge in every moral compromission with the ruling regime and strengthen its dictatorial grip on the country, in the name of obtaining maximum profits.

The jury announced, through Robin Shuffield : "With tenacity, professionalism and determination but also with simplicity, humanism and humour the director succeeds in sounding the alarm on this cynicism in business which, in our time, no longer has any limits..." The film will be shown on Arte next 16th April.

The special Jury Prize went to the film "Résister n'est pas un crime" (Belgique, 2007, 90mn) by Marie-France Collard, Foued Bellali and Jérôme Laffont :
The film shows how the climate of insecurity set in by the said “war against terror” after the 11th September 2001 has induced serious little-known abuses in Europe, especially in Belgium.

The members of the jury were keen to emphasize : "This film illustrates with great clarity the way in which rule of law is jeopardized by implementing antiterrorist policies imported from the United States."

The film "Toute ma vie en prison" (UK, 2008, 90 mn) by Marc Evans received two awards during the ceremony : the “Etudiants d'Ile de France” Prize and the Planète Prize awarded by the television channel Planète (Canal+) :
"Toute ma vie en prison" is a documentary film unseen in France which reviews the Mumia Abu Jamal case, the most famous American political prisoner. The film is still looking for a distributor in France.

The Paris FIFDH wishes to thank all its partners for their support; the Secours Catholique Caritas, the Mairie de Paris, the Conseil Régional d'Ile de France and the Acsé Ile de France, Planète, RFI, Toogezer, La Vie, Slate.fr.