Two French-speaking Belgian documentaries awarded at Cinéma du Réel!
"The Roller, the Life, the Fight" and "Who cares?" each received two awards at Cinéma du Réel!
Cinéma du Réel blends documentary, essay, and experimentation in selections that reflect the diversity of genres and forms of cinematic approaches to the world. This makes it one of the few documentary film festivals emphasizing the heritage and memory of the genre, while engaging them in dialogue with contemporary creation.
For the 46th edition of the festival, The Roller, The Life, The Fight by Elettra Bisogno and Hazem Alqaddi was selected in Competition and had its world premiere. The film, produced by Tandor Productions and internationally sold by CBA, received the Loridan-Ivens First Film Award 2024 and the Clarens Prize for Humanistic Documentary 2024.
Hazem arrives in Belgium after a painful journey from Gaza. At the same time, Elettra also arrived in Brussels to study documentary film. Their first moments together are revealing and trigger the desire to get to know each other through the medium of film. The camera becomes the tool for listening to and transforming each other. Through the images of their lives, we are plunged into the details of the meeting of two worlds. The act of recording is an engagement to justice and their movements reveal their wish to resist to a divided society. Hazem and Elettra are confronted with the rigidity of his asylum procedure and must stay strong and united. Will they be able to face it together? It is an exile, an inner migration to reach a place where gazes are softer and more equal.
Who cares? by Alexe Poukine was selected in the National Competition and also had its world premiere at Cinéma du Réel. The film, produced by Wrong Men and the CBA, received the Youth Prize - Ciné+ 2024 and a Special Mention from the Libraries Prize 2024.
In the small arena of the training center, « fake » patients and « real » caregivers simulate medical consultations. The premise of these simulation sessions is that caring is a quality that can be acquired and cultivated.
Let's also note the presence of Loveboard by Felipe Casanova in the First Window section of the festival (Autoproduced, internationally sold by Kino Rebelde), as well as the Belgian co-production Soundtrack to a Coup d'état by Johan Grimonprez in Competition.
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