'Barbara Forever' and 'After the Rehearsal' also pick up awards James Longley’s “Mohabat” won the Opus Bonum section at Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival on Saturday. Produced by Mohammad Sharif Hotak, Longley and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, it follows a 12-year-old boy Mohabat, whose father dies in a drone strike. Left without parental care, he’s taken to a city orphanage.
Filip Remunda’s “Love Exposed,” Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez’s “Life Is There,” Ania Winiarska’s “Good Girls” and Diana Martínez’s “19th Floor” were also noticed. Brydie O’Connor’s “Barbara Forever,” about late artist and activist Barbara Hammer, was the winner of Testimonies. The jury called it a “compelling cinematic study that breaks several taboos simultaneously: lesbian and female emancipation, aging and terminal illness.
This exceptionally empathetic film incorporates experimental footage – shot by the protagonist herself over the span of five decades – in a highly creative manner.” “Connecting with others through art was really at the core of her practice. It’s also why she loved teaching. I definitely try to take at least a page out of Barbara’s book in that regard,” said O’Connor.
She said: ‘I’ve never heard of Barbara Hammer. I’m from Texas and I’m not queer. But I was so moved because my father is at the very end of his life, and he keeps telling our family that he’s at peace.
After seeing this movie, I finally understand what he’s saying.’” In the First Lights section, Philipp Fröhlich picked up the main award for “After the Rehearsal.” Dominika Kováčová triumphed with “Elusiveness of Today” for the film’s “gentle ability to take the viewer from the confines of the physical space in which an elderly woman is bound, to the boundless jam of her mental universe, and for the eloquent play of light and accomplished camera work.” Finally, Martin Páv picked up Czech Joy’s main award for “Glowing,” while Klára Trsková and Anežka Horová were the winners of Exprmntl.cz with “On the Peaks of All the Beech Mountains.” Their film was praised for “the political courage in recalling one of the many dark chapters in our contemporary history, the relevance in denouncing ethnic cleansing during complex and painful historical moments, and the sophisticated and stirring filmmaking.” Vietnamese-American filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha was given the Contribution to World Cinema Award. Currently preparing her upcoming film “The Undying Desert,” her first set in the US, she told Variety about her philosophy.
I’m very glad that I was able to stick with the path I chose and not be intimidated by all these oppressive regulations.” She added: “Cinema is not just an experience for the eyes. It’s an experience for the whole body. When I was first showing ‘Reassemblage,’ someone told me: ‘I’m hearing this film with my eyes and seeing it with my ears.’ I replied: ‘Perfect’,” she said.
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