The closing ceremony of the 6th edition of the International Film and Human Rights Festival of Valencia will take place next Friday 31 October at the Filmoteca of CulturArts IVAC (Sala Luis García Berlanga, 20.00h).
The name of the documentary film chosen by the Jury as the winner of the Official Section3,000 euros, as well as the winner of the "Premio ".One minute, one right"500 euros.
The Jury for this year's edition is made up of:
Carles Bosch - Film Director. President of the Jury
Alejandro Mañes - Vice-President UNESCO VALENCIA
Giovanna Ribes - Film Director
Abdelatif Hwidar - Actor
Toni Navarro - Director of the Barcelona International Film Festival.
Jose Antonio Hurtado - Film Critic
Maria Escalona Ponce , General Coordinator of Amnesty International Valencia
This will be followed by a screening of the Valencian short film ".A better place". A work led by Moisés Romera y Marisa Crespo which tells the story of the dreams of three African children: Thimbo, who wants to be a footballer, Malik, who dreams of owning his own business, and Demba, who only thinks of going to a better place. This short film has won numerous awards at various festivals over the last two years. It was shot in one day and, most commendably, on an almost non-existent budget.
The documentary chosen to officially close the Festival is ".The act of killing", by Joshua Oppenheimer y Christine Cynn, one of the winning documentaries at last year's Documenta Madrid and nominated in the "Best Documentary" category for the Oscars 2014.
Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary is based on the bizarre idea of proposing to some of the perpetrators of one of the worst massacres in Suharto's Indonesia in the 1960s to make a recording of their method of action. One of those cruel killers is, in fact, a gentle neighbour of the director's, and from there came the idea of delving into the root of the evil in those ordinary people who came to kill more than a million Indonesians suspected of communism or identified as Chinese or intellectuals. The perpetrators of all these murders live freely today and are recognised in their country as "heroes", but as they recall and recreate as actors some of the scenes in which they were involved, an image of themselves is reflected in the mirror that had never occurred to them before. For the first time, the cinema manages to make them doubt the barbarity they perpetrated.
Oppenheimer, aware that the protagonists would be reluctant to talk about this period, proposed to them to make a film recreating their strategies, but in reality he recorded their reactions as they reproduced the scenes of the past in the form of a "making off". Between ignorance and coldness, some of the protagonists narrate the methods they used to end human lives with the justification of "duty done" or the lack of awareness of the damage caused.
For further experimentation, the director chose as actors to play the victims the relatives of those who were his victims in real life. The result: a grotesque and intelligent documentary about boundless human evil and its lack of consequences, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.
The documentary was also co-directed by Christine Sinn and an Indonesian co-director who remains anonymous for fear of reprisals, as did the Indonesian film crew.
"The Act of Killing" won the 2013 European Film Award for Best Documentary, The Asia Pacific Screen Award and Best Documentary at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.
Admission to the closing ceremony is free, you just have to collect your ticket beforehand at the CulturArts Ivac Film Library box office.
However, beyond the official closing, until next Wednesday 5th November, the CultuArts IVAC Film Library will continue screening several works belonging to the Animation and Human Rights Film Series such as "The extraordinary journey of Lucius Dumb" (Maite Ruiz de Austri), "The tomb of the fireflies" (Hotaru No Haka) and, within the Special Sessions, the extraordinary documentary "The lost image" (Rithy Panh). On Saturday, 1 November, there is a new opportunity to see "The Act of Killing".