Lebanese-Canadian director Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass!, about how Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi uses humour to illuminate the shared humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, won the top prize at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (TIDF), which closed on March 16.
Coexistence, My Ass! was awarded the €12,000 Golden Alexander-Dimitri Eipides prize hot on the heels of picking up the special jury award in the World Cinema Documentary section of the Sundance Film Festival in January.
At TIDF, it also won the Council of Europe €5,000 Human Rights in Motion award and secured a place in the pre-selection shortlist for the best documentary Oscar. Austrian outlet Autlook Filmsales is handling international sales.
Free Leonard Peltier by US filmmakers Jesse Short Bull and David France won the €5,000 international competition special jury prize, the Silver Alexander.
The TIDF world premiere is about the struggle to liberate American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier who has been in prison for 50 years following a contentious conviction.
The film also received the Fipresci and international Amnesty awards.
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A special mention was given to Polish director Weronika Mliczewska’s Child Of Dust, about one of the thousands unwanted and marginalised children abandoned by US soldiers after the Vietnam war, and the efforts of the 55 years-old to reunite with his father in the US. Germany’s Rise and Shine Word Sales has international rights.
In the Newcomers competition, Kenyan-US co-production How to Build A Library by Maia Lekow and Christopher King took the €10,000 special jury prize and Golden Alexander; the €4,000 Silver Alexander and was awarded to Greece’s Byron Kritzas for They Talk About Worship Here. The latter also won the Fischer audience award.
Winners in the Film Forward competition included Canadian production Endless Cookie by brothers Seth and Peter Scriver which won the €6,000 Golden Alexander, while US filmmaker Catherine Gund’s Meanwhile won the €3,000Silver Alexander.
The festival presented an honorary Golden Alexander to the France’s Nicolas Philibert who also hosted a masterclass, as did US filmmaker Lauren Greenfield.
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