Best Documentary: Position Among the Stars, directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich (Netherlands)“Its distinguished cinematic language, the visualization and the way the life of a family is presented in this film takes us to their world and lets us experience the complexities of the society they lived in – with a sense of humor that turns their tragedy into happy moments.”-ADFF PRESSphoto by Vanessa McMahon
12 Feature-length Documentaries
from 11 Countries Contend for $60,000 in Cash Prizes
San Francisco, CA – The
54th San Francisco International Film
Festival (April 21–May 5) today
announced its Documentaries in
Competition for the esteemed Golden
Gate Awards. The International will award close to $100,000 in total prizes
this year. Sixty thousand dollars will be awarded to winners in three
categories: investigative documentary feature ($25,000), documentary feature
($20,...
Ally Derks, the long-time director of IDFA: the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, gave the opening address on Wednesday evening for filmmakers, professionals and attending guests assembled for the official opening of the 23rd edition of the much-respected documentary festival. She used her remarks to offer a focus on the challenges facing both documentary filmmakers and supporters of the arts in these austere economic times. What follows are excerpts from her speech: "Dear frien...
Ally Derks, the long-time director of IDFA: the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, gave the opening address on Wednesday evening for filmmakers, professionals and attending guests assembled for the official opening of the 23rd edition of the much-respected documentary festival. She used her remarks to offer a focus on the challenges facing both documentary filmmakers and supporters of the arts in these austere economic times. What follows are excerpts from her speech: ...
Retrospective Leonard Retel Helmrich’s films at Visions du Réel – Nyon 2007The director’s ‘Single Shot Cinema’ method in focus The international documentary film festival Visions du Réel – Nyon will screen a retrospective of the works of Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich at the festival’s 2007 edition which runs from April 20 – 26.Leonard Retel Helmrich has achieved worldwide success with his feature documentaries THE EYE OF THE DAY and SHAPE OF THE MOON both part of a tri...
The Dutch documentary PROMISED PARADISE by Leonard Retel Helmrich is banned from the Jakarta International Film Festival. Saturday the film had its Asian première at the festival. Afterwards, the Censorship Commision asked the festival organisation to cancell all further screenings. According to producer Scarabee Films the Governmental Censorship Commision did not give a reason for this cancellation. Scarabee imagines the film is banned because it contains images of Imam Samudra, one of the peo...
The 7th Jakarta International Film Festival will open December 9 and will conclude 9 days later on the 18th! Words from Orlow Seunke, JiFFest Director JiFFest has always included documentary films, but this year, for the first time, we’ve created a special section for documentaries. These days, the documentary form is enjoying an exciting revival. Captivating and entertaining, they no longer resemble that dry ‘serious’ genre we love to hate. We’ve selected the best documentaries of recen...
