Editor

Golden Deers, the Prize statuettes of Ecofilms, were awarded on Saturday 25 June at the National theater of Rhodes, Greece.

Feature films
Best feature film
Shipbreakers by Michael Cot
The international jury awarded Michael Kot’s Shipbreakers the first prize. Set in the dramatic setting of a ship graveyard in Alang, India, the film follows the daily lives of workers and bosses who toil to break down a 30.000 ton vessel over a period of two months. Kot, a founding producer of CBC Newsworld, uses strong imagery to convey complex and harsh social and environmental realities of the developing world.

Second best feature film
Carpatia by Andrej Klamt and Ulrich Rydzewski
The journey into little known rural mountainous regions of Carpatia, was crowned as second best feature film. Snapshot encounters with an array of ethnic groups and insights into community life set in the Carpatia are captured in a film whose rich landscape photography was one of the outstanding features.

Special mentions
Nostalgos by Eleni Alexandraki
Stroke by Katarina Peters

Short films
Best short film
Flood in Baath country, Omar Amiralay
An incisive political commentary of present day Syria launched using the management of the waters of the River Euphrates as a springboard. Thirty-three years ago, Omar Amiralay, was one of the supporters “the dam of Euphrates”, a symbol of modernization and the proud of the Baas ruling Party. However time revealed the damaging impacts of this decision on the environment and the director compelled by his political awakening returns to the place of his first film to re-tell the same story, this time from a changed point of view..

Second best short film
Ants by Wolfang Thaler
Rife with unusual imagery made possible through special macro film equipment, Ants perked up the eyes of the Jury that garnered it with the second best short film prize. Ants wage wars and administer medicines; they are farmers and graziers.They live in a world of coded communications and lightning chains of command, secret poison mixtures and prodigious strength.

Ramsar MedWet Award for best film on water and wetlands
The veil of Berta by Esteban Larrain
This Chilean film set in the high Andean plateau recounts the story of a native group struggling against the flooding of their lands by a river dam. The leader of the struggle and main character is a tough and humorous 80 year old who takes up negotiations with high level government and UN representatives while
staying true to her roots and her ancestor’s traditions of greeting the trees and the sun, saying prayers and taking tea with her dead.

Audience awards
Best Feature Films
Monte Grande by Franz Reichle
This is the story of a man that is told affectionately and gently, touchingly astutely.
Varela spent his life building bridges: between western science and eastern wisdom, neurobiology and philosophy, abstract theory and practical life.
This film succeeds - if only for 80 delightful minutes - in deconstructing the prevailing division between science and art.

Special mentions
Οrgasmo by Pablo Oliverio
Concrete Revolution by Xiaolu Guo

Best Short film
Smoking Kills by Andres Jarach
The film unfolds the intricacies of quitting seen through the eyes of a heavy smoker. Through a visual diary we bare witness to his moods and philosophical thoughts, accompany him on his regular visits to the tabaccologist where he goes for practical advise and support and to the labs where nicotine dependency is tested on rats.

Special mention
Pilala by Theo Papadopoulakis
Breaking away from the box by Ywe Jalander



Full coverage of Ecofilms 2005 on filmfestivals.com :

Ecofilms' opening stroke a sensitive chord

A decent factory tackles corporate responsibility at Ecofilms

Ecofilms also gives room to short films

Ecofilms grants a Medwet award for the second year

A spiritual angle on ecology at Ecofilms

Ecofilms presents an experimental answer to poverty in doc

Consumer society under the spotlight at Ecofilms with Czech Dream


Rhodes Golden Deers Awards