The Film and Human Rights Festival - Humans Fest, organized by Fundación por la Justicia and Quatre Films with the collaboration of CulturArts, Vice-Rectorate of Culture of UV, Muvim and the Sponsorship of Caixa Popular, closed its seventh edition last Friday the 18th in an event in which the reading of the honors of the awards for Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Documentary Short Film and Best Short Film of the “1 minute, 1 right” contest. During the closing ceremony, the Festival will be attended by director Oossama Mohammed, who will present the documentary 'Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait', made with 1,001 images of anonymous Syrian citizens.
Of a total of ten feature films submitted to the Official Section, 'Toto and his sisters', the documentary by Romanian director Alexander Nanau, has been chosen by the members of the jury to receive the award for Best Documentary Feature, as reported by the Festival organization. The jury, chaired by Ventura Durall, winner of the last edition, wanted to award the prize to this story that tells the life of a ten-year-old boy and his sisters who are waiting for their mother to get out of prison and return home, and which has achieved great success after passing through the Sundance and Tribeca festivals.
The jury also wanted to give a special mention to 'L'abri', by Fernando Melgar, which tells the story of an emergency shelter for homeless people in Lausanne, presented in Locarno and winner of the second prize for “New Waves” at the Seville Festival.
Regarding the Short Film Section, the jury made up of Pau Guillén, María Escalona and Dora Martí, after viewing and evaluating the short films presented in the competition, agreed that 'One hour, one step', by Aitor Iturriza and Bernat Gual, is chosen to receive the award for Best Documentary Short Film. The jury wanted to highlight the way in which the short film mixes the narrative codes of documentary, fiction and mockumentary, to address a story based on real events that reveals the condition of prisoners in Egyptian prisons. and how the Arab Spring has affected this reality.
Likewise, the jury has decided to grant a special mention to the short film 'The Pink Spring in the Kremlim', by Mario de la Torre, for its defense of the LGTBI community in Russia and to be part of the global and multiplatform documentary series “The Pink Spring ”, which reflects the geographical and thematic plurality of the problems of the LGBT community in the world.
The short film jury “1 minute 1 right” has decided to award, in the category of short films made by schools and centers that serve people at risk of social exclusion, a Special Jury Mention to the short film 'A l´altre costat. Refugees welcome', directed by Sergi Moyano, a 4th ESO student, from the IES Arabista Ribera de Carcaixent, for his sensitivity and respect towards migrants.