01.29.2024

FIPADOC 2024 : Two Belgian documentaries awarded

"Iraq, children of shame" and "Bon Voyage" were awarded this weekend in Biarritz

On Saturday, January 27, the closing ceremony of the FIPADOC 2024 (International Festival of Audiovisual Documentary Programs in Biarritz) took place. As is customary every January, FIPADOC marked the beginning of the year for major international documentary festivals. Over the course of 7 days, the festival celebrated documentaries in various venues throughout Biarritz, showcasing the genre in all its forms through screenings, masterclasses, debates, and conferences. This year, the French festival featured numerous French-speaking Belgian productions, two of which received awards.

Firstly, Iraq, children of shame directed by Pascale Bourgaux and produced by Iota Production, was awarded the Women in Media Prize. The documentary was selected in the International Documentary Competition.

In 2014, thousands of Yazidi women are kidnapped by Daech and reduced to sexual slavery. Upon her release, Ana is forced to abandon the baby she had as a result of being raped. Considered as "bastards", all children born from the rapes by the jihadists were rejected away from the Yazidi community. After four years of separation, "Ana" crosses Kurdistan, in secret, to see her daughter Marya.

Then, the documentary Bon Voyage by Karine Birgé, produced by CVB, received the Young Europeans Prize (Erasmus+). The film was selected in the Stories of Europe Competition.

She was 102 years old. It was the end of summer 2018. My grandmother made the choice to leave France and go to Belgium, to die with dignity. The choice of a “gentle and easy” death – in Greek, euthanasia. I look back at the events leading up to her short-lived exile and my memories of this difficult journey. Using the audio clips that I saved, with a theatre of puppets and objects, a few disjointed skeletons, and eerie figurines, including Chantal Goya and Doctor Frankenstein, I recreate a world around my grandmother, who departed in strange tranquillity.

Among the other Belgian selections, in the IMPACT Documentary Competition, was One of the Thousand Hills by Bernard Bellefroid, produced by La Compagnie Cinématographique, and Mission Castor by Patrick Destiné (produced by Dancing Dog Productions), the latter being part of the Family section of the festival.

Also noteworthy was the presence of two Belgian co-productions: Draw for Change: we resist, we exist (directed by Mariana Cadenas, produced by Clin d’oeil Films) in the SMART section and Jump Out (directed by Nika Saravanja, produced by Playtime Films) in the Focus Italy category.