RAMI FARAH

FOUR FILMS PRESENTED IN HOTDOCS' NORDIC PROGRAMME by Maria Kristensen

It is our great pleasure to announce that we have four films screening at the HotDocs film festival, all of which will be part of the Nordic Bridges programme. These include: “A House Made of Splinters” directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont; “The Killing of a Journalist” directed by Matt Sarnecki; “Our Memory Belongs to Us” directed by Rami Farah; and “Outside” directed by Olha Zhurba. You can read more about each of them, including tickets and streaming info, below:

‘A House Made of Splinters,’ directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont and produced by Monica Hellström, follows three children at a temporary shelter, as war-torn Ukraine leaves devastating and enduring marks on the population. Through the eyes of kids, the film depicts a personal, tender, and simultaneously tragic and hopeful story about lives in limbo. Gorgeous, patient camerawork respects the children's vulnerability but expertly detects the unmistakable normalisation of violence in their desperate play, temporary friendships and fragile family connections. 

‘The Killing of a Journalist’, directed by Matt Sarnecki and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, explores the brutal murder of the Slovakian investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírova. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in Slovakia since the fall of communism. When prosecution efforts turn up honey-pot schemes, paid assassins and dubious political appointees instead of delivering justice, democracy itself may not survive in one of the European Union's most jaw-dropping corruption scandals

“Our Memory Belongs to Us” directed by Syrian filmmaker Rami Farah and produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen, Liana Saleh and Anne Köhncke, reunites citizen journalists Yadan, Odai and Rani in an empty theatre to watch smuggled footage on the big screen nearly 10 years after the beginning of the Syrian revolution. Together, they revisit the events, people and places that changed the trajectory of their lives. How does one survive - by forgetting or by remembering? Building to a shattering crescendo, this collective memory exercise provides a corrective history and chronology for the revolution that was reframed as a civil war by a dictator who preferred to displace over six million people rather than be deposed — and is confirmation that people must tell their own stories.

“Outside” directed by Olha Zhurba, produced by Darya Bassell and Viktoria Khomenko for Moon Man and co-produced by Anne Köhncke and Monica Hellström for Final Cut for Real, follows 13-year old Roma, an abandoned street kid adopted by random soldiers in Kyiv’s Independence Square during Ukraine’s Maidan Uprising. But when the media and military encampments cleared out, he was again discarded, this time to an orphanage. At 18, with just a knife and a lighter in his pocket, can he possibly take control of his life? Security footage, heartbreaking phone calls and chance meetings populate this expertly layered study of a lost soul who belongs to no one and has nowhere to go.

The Nordic Bridges programme is a year-long initiative led by Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre fostering cultural exchange between the Nordic Region and Canada. Working with partners across Canada, Nordic Bridges presents multidisciplinary contemporary art, culture and ideas throughout the year. 

To read more about the HotDocs film festival, online streaming or how to secure a ticket, click here.

'OUR MEMORY BELONGS TO US' SCREENS AT CENTRE POMPIDOU by Maria Kristensen

Our Memory Belongs to Us by Rami Farah and produced and co-directed by Signe Byrge Sørensen screens at Centre Pompidou this Sunday nigth as part of a series dedicated to the Arte slot "La Lucarne". Commissioning editor Rasha Salti is moderating a Q & A with director Rami Farah.

Read more about the screening here: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/programme/agenda/evenement/JTHK2Fd

'FLEE' AND 'OUR MEMORY BELONGS TO US' SELECTED FOR CAMDEN IFF by Maria Kristensen

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We are proud and happy to announce that ‘Flee’ and ‘Our Memory Belongs to Us’ have been selected for the Camden International Film Festival 2021.

The 17th edition of the festival will be held at venues in Maine from September 16-19 and online from September 16-26, 2021. The Camden International Film Festival is recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world and the program features 37 feature and 33 short films from 30 different countries.

‘Flee’ , directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and produced by Monica Hellström, is chosen as the Closing Night Film and ‘Our Memory Belongs to Us’ , directed by Rami Farah and produced and co-directed by Signe Byrge Sørensen, is highlighted by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the notable films of the selection!

Click here to read more about the full festival lineup (Filmmaker Magazine)

'OUR MEMORY BELONGS TO US' WINS HUMAN RIGHTS DOX AWARD AT DOKUFEST by Maria Kristensen

We are happy to announce that Our Memory Belongs to Us by Rami Farah and co-directed by Signe Byrge Sørensen has won the Human Rights DOX award at the 20th jubilee edition of DokuFest in Kosovo. 

The jury stated that they “decided to recognize a film that spoke to the documentary relevance of personal and collective remembrance when marked by enactment of defiance to state violence. […] Through both a staged screening and reconstruction of events the retelling and performance of memory we are invited to ask questions about the documentary film as a vehicle of remembrance.”

Click here to read more about the announced winners of the 8 categories

'OUR MEMORY BELONGS TO US' & 'HE'S MY BROTHER' WIN SPECIAL MENTION AT CPH:DOX by Maria Kristensen

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We are so proud and happy to announce that Our Memory Belongs to Usand He’s My Brother’, both recieved Special Mentions at CPH:DOX 2021.

Our Memory Belongs to Us’ is directed by Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen, and ‘He’s My Brother’ is directed by Cille Hannibal and co-director Christine Hanberg.

The statement of DOX:AWARD jury, when announcing the Special Mention to ‘Our Memory Belongs to Us’, was as follows:

“We have decided to award a special mention to a film that both challenged and haunted us – a work that expands on a painful tradition of documentaries we have all watched over the last decade. In a space created between viewer and images; in a process which is both performative and therapeutic, trauma is deconstructed and transformed, before our eyes, into camaraderie; intimacy; guilt, failure and despair. As the film progresses it exposes the impossible dichotomy faced by its protagonists – they want to remember, and at the same time they yearn to move beyond the past. Yadan, Rani and Odai’s engagement with the videos they filmed years ago, in their hometown of Dar’ah, reminds us that the images from the Syrian revolution, beyond being testimony, and evidence, are first and foremost people’s memories. The CPH:DOX Award Special Mention goes to ‘Our Memory Belongs To Us’ by Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen.”

The statement of the NORDIC:DOX jury, when announcing the Special Mention to ‘He’s My Brother’, was as follows:

“The best documentary films are always a window into other lives, other realities than our own. Always under-represented, people with disabilities have therefore often been the subject of documentaries. This moving film distinguishes itself by its very personal nature and its capacity to make us aware of the daily struggles a family can face in such a situation. It is both a love letter from a sister to a brother who cannot but live in his own world, and a very honest portrayal of the people who dedicate their lives for him. For its deeply humanistic approach, the jury would like to give a special mention to ‘He’s my Brother’.”

Both films have cinema premieres this upcoming weekend.

‘He’s My Brother’ is screened on Saturday, May 8th, at 19.15. Find tickets here.
’Our Memory Belongs to Us’ is screened on Monday, May 10th, at 18:45. Find tickets here.

Click here to see the full list of award winners at CPH:DOX 2021

FINAL CUT FOR REAL AT IDFA 2019 by Maria Kristensen

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Once again Final Cut for Real will be well represented at IDFA – the following Final Cut for Real productions and co-productions can be found at IDFA 2019:

SCREENINGS
A Comedian in A Syrian Tragedy by Rami Farah will have its world premiere at this year’s IDFA and will have four screenings in total. It is an intimate portrait of the Syrian film and television actor Fares Helou, who is forced into exile after standing by the pro-democracy protestors in Syria, 2011. With his family he starts a new chapter in France full of questions, disappointments and alienation, but also of hope and cultural confusion that calls for laughter. The film is produced by Lyana Saleh for OSOR (France) and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real (Denmark) in co-production with Cindy Le Templier for SHASHAT Multimedia Productions (Jordan) and Anita Rehoff Larsen for Sant & Usant (Norway).

SCREENING TIMES AND LOCATIONS
23/11 – 18:30 – at Munt 13 - w/ Q&A
25/11 – 17:30 – at De Balie - Grote Zaal - w/ Q&A
26/11 – 22:00 – at Brakke Grond Grote Zaal - w/ Q&A
30/11 – 10:00 – at Tuschinski 6

Purchase tickets here.

Furthermore, this year two Final Cut for Real productions are selected for Rough Cut Screenings at IDFA Sunday November 24.

The Art of Repression by Estephan Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga focuses on a small German colony in Chile that has transformed a grim, sectarian past into a beautiful tourist resort. The filmmakers explore how the inhabitants have developed different narratives in order to survive 45 years of traumas. The film is produced by Heidi Elise Christensen and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real.

I See for You by Cille Hannibal & co-director Christine Hanberg describes the challenges of being without all of your senses. Most people have five senses, but Peter only has three. Having lost both his sight and hearing as a newborn, his family must see and hear the world for him. The film is produced by Monica Hellström for Final Cut for Real.

ROUGH CUT SCREENINGS TAKE PLACE 24/11 AT TUSCHINSKI 5
The Art of Repression – 11:00-11:45
I See for You – 16:45-17:25

PLEASE NOTE: Only access with IDFA Forum pass

Final Cut for Real will be represented at IDFA by producers Signe Byrge Sørensen, Heidi Elise Christensen and Monica Hellström.