PriMed 2017 / The winners

21st PriMed – Special report

The award winners – More than 2,500 6th formers involved in PriMed
1,000 members of the public vote for the Audience Award – The award ceremony itself

11 awards were given at the end of the 21^st PriMed, including 3 Broadcasting Awards. The festival jury particularly praised the films made by women (6 awards).

Grand Prix Mediterranean Issues (sponsored by France Télévisions)
SYRIE, LE CRI ÉTOUFFÉ
by Manon LOIZEAU
For the past 6 years Syrian women have been systematically raped in Bachar al-Assad’s prisons. A crime organised, known about but never spoken about. Some rarely heard personal accounts.

Mediterranean Memory Award (sponsored by INA, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel)
NÉ À DEIR YASSIN
by Neta SHOSHANI
The story of Deir Yassin, an Arab village taken over by Israel in 1948 and turned into a psychiatric hospital.

First Film Award (sponsored by Rai, Radiotelevisione Italiana)
GAZA SURF CLUB
by Philip GNADT and Mickey YAMINE
Trapped in “the world’s largest open prison” and forced to live in conditions of war, the new generation of Palestinians is irresistibly attracted to the edge of the sea

Mediterranean Art, Heritage and Culture Award
ALALÁ (JOIE)
by Remedios MALVAREZ BAEZ
In a gypsy neighbourhood of Seville, flamenco is used as a tool for teaching and social improvement.

Averroès Junior Award (sponsored by the Aix-Marseille Provence District)
ALGER, LA MECQUE DES RÉVOLUTIONNAIRES (1962-1974)
by Ben SALAMA
After independence, “white Algiers” became known as “red Algiers” as it welcomed with open arms revolutionaries from across the world.

Mediterranean Short Film Award (Audience Award)
BOLINGO. LA FORÊT DE L’AMOUR
by Alejandro G. SALGADO
These young women from sub-Saharan Africa have known and survived every kind of horror. Once they reach northern Morocco they come together in the “Forest of love”, where they try as best they can to bring up their children as they wait to go to Europe.

Mediterranean Multimedia Award (sponsored by Orange)
LA VIA D’USCITA
by Milena GABANELLI with the team of Report, a Rai 3 programme
A contribution of ideas to re-think the welcome immigrants receive as they arrive in Italy.

ASBU Special Mention (Arab States Broadcasting Union)
ALGER, LA MECQUE DES RÉVOLUTIONNAIRES (1962-1974)
by Ben SALAMA

2M Broadcasting Award
IF I CLOSE MY EYES
by Francesca MANNOCCHI and Alessio ROMENZI
300,000 Syrian child refugees are excluded from the educational system through lack of facilities. Vital for their future, this issue is also important for adults. They organise their children’s schooling themselves.

France 3 Corse ViaStella Broadcasting Award
BENVENUTI
by Laura AURIOLE and Annalisa LENDARO
The inhabitants of Lampedusa speak either confidentially or in the open about their life. Between shipwrecks and detention camps, enjoying life and traditional fishing…

Rai 3 Broadcasting Award
NÉ EN SYRIE
by Hernan ZIN
For a year, the director followed 7 Syrian children as they flee the war. They cross Europe with their parents, going towards an uncertain future.

The jury of the 21st PriMed were:

– Mathieu GUIDERE, writer and expert on Islam (Jury chair)
– Fettouma BENHAIMOUD, head of documentary purchasing, production and co-production at 2M (Morocco)
– Carine BRATZLAVSKY, head of theatre and scenic arts at RTBF (Belgium)
– Tahar CHIKHAOUI, academic, film critic, chair of Archipels Images
– Houria KHATIR, head of specialist analysis to the EPTV’s managing director (Algeria)
– Zouhir LOUASSINI, journalist and editorialist at Rai (Italy)

The jury’s response to the selection:
“The jury wishes to emphasise the high quality of the films presented for their consideration, both in terms of their content and their structural and artistic quality. Films which reflect the often tragic realities of today’s world, afflicted by war and by violence against women, mothers and girls, and criss-crossed by refugees and migrants.
The jury gave priority to films made by directors (men and women) who used the basic elements of film-making – image, sound, editing – to suggest powerfully ways of overcoming these tragedies; films with a message, often necessary, films which show the hope behind the tears.
The hope of the courageous women who dare break the law of silence by speaking out; the hope of the children who believe in school, art and culture to make them free citizens. A hope epitomised by the shot of a young woman who, on a beach in Gaza, sits astride her surfboard, unties her headscarf, and as if challenging the world, rides the wave, hair unfurling in the wind!”