David Dufresne’s documentary The Monopoly Of Violence has clinched the Grand Prix and the international press jury award at the 12th edition of Unifrance’s online festival MyFrenchFilmFestival.
The hard-hitting work, exploring police violence during the yellow vest protests, is produced Le Bureau and sold internationally by The Bureau Sales.
Running from January 14 to February 22, the festival is showcasing 30 French-language features and shorts on 70 VoD services worldwide. Past editions have registered in excess of 12 million views.
The international jury composed of Mexican-US music engineer Michelle Couttolenc and directors Joachim Lafosse, Filippo Meneghetti, Santiago Mitre, and Daphné Patakia praised the documentary for “the universal dimension of its subject, at a crucial political moment in our contemporary history”.
The jury also awarded a special mention to Belgian directors Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni’s comedy-drama Madly In Life, about a couple, desperate for children, who find themselves learning parenting skills when the husband’s mother develops semantic dementia leading her to behave in a childish manner.
They also “saluted” comedy All Hands On Deck by Guillaume Brac for the quality of its writing and the characters who confront class violence.
Aside from Monopoly Of Violence, the jury also gave a special mention to feature animation Calamity for the way in which it allows younger audiences to address issues of gender and female empowerment.
Best short film prizes went to Maximilian Badier-Rosenthal’s comedy social comedy-drama Malabar and Nicolas Birkenstock’s fantasy sci-fi Little Bear.
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