DOHA: A stirring documentary about the formidable leader of a group of women who help fight violence against women in India won the hearts of the 15-member jury to bag the coveted Al Jazeera Golden Award for Long Films category at the 7th Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival
last night.
Titled 'Pink Saris,' the UK-produced film by acclaimed British filmmaker Kim Longinotto upstaged the other two frontrunners Qatar's 'Sons of the Sea' and 'Shooting vs Shooting' from Greece and 52 others in the category to bag the QR50,000 prize and a golden trophy bearing the Al Jazeera logo.
Festival Director Abbas Arnaout received the award from Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani on behalf of Longinotto who was unable to come to Doha for the festival.
The 96-minute documentary draws a complex figure of Sampat Pal Devi, leader of 'Gulabi Gang' or the 'Pink Gang' in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, from being a brave empowered woman leader to a vulnerable one who supports her dependents. With an exceptional narrative skill she compellingly portrays the efforts of the pink-sari-wearing group in helping women from the lowest caste known as 'dalits' or untouchables. The winning director of the Al Jazeera Golden Award for Medium films, Italian Luca Cusani dedicated the award to the protagonist of their documentary 'Shooting Mohammad' who already lives in Jerusalem. The Al Jazeera Golden Award for Short films went to 'Unearthing the Pen' from the UK.
The Al Jazeera Jury Award winners were 'Zanzibar Musical Club' (France), 'The Kingdom of Women' (Lebanon) and 'The Infinite' (Spain) in the long, medium and short films categories, respectively.
'Love of Books,' a film on saving precious old manuscripts from destruction during the Bosnia war, was the lone Qatari-produced film that won in the main competition, bagging this year's Al Jazeera Special Award under the medium films category. This year's Special Award focused on the theme 'Investigative Journalism,' the long films category of which was dominated by 'Czech Peace' (Czech Republic). However, no award was given in the short films category.
Al Jazeera Award for Public Liberties and Human Rights was given to Tears of Gaza (Norway), Israel vs. Israel (France) the Half Value Life (Afghanistan). The award was sponsored by Al Jazeera Network's Public Liberties & Human Rights Department.
For the Child and Family Award sponsored by Al Jazeera Children's Channel, the winners were Arranged Happiness (Germany), I Will Marry the Whole Village (Serbia) and Our Lebanon is Not Yours (Lebanon). New to this year's festival is the Promising Films Award which recognised the best three films directed by students from universities here in Qatar. Bagging the first, second third places respectively were Lady of the Rosary, Broken Records and A Falcon A Revolution.
The New Horizon Award which honours the best two films directed by students or beginners was won by A State of Living and From Head to Sky.
A total of QR500,000 prize money was distributed among the 20 winners in the seven categories of this year's awards.
Earlier during the awarding ceremony, Festival director Abbas Arnaout honoured the 15 jury members from 15 different countries.
A record 284 films from 65 countries were shortlisted at this year's festival. They came from a total of over 1,200 entries from 92 countries proving the growing popularity of the festival.
© The Peninsula 2011
