‘Motherhood,’ ‘Village,’ ‘Magma’ Take Prizes at Atlas Workshops

Meryam Joobeur‘s “Motherhood,” Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise” and Mia Bendrimia’s “The Magma” claimed a trio of post-production prizes at this yr’s Atlas Workshops, which ran from Nov. 27 – 30 as a part of the Marrakech Film Festival.

Winner of the highest award, “Motherhood” walked away with a €30,000 ($32,621) post-production grant. Produced by Sarra Ben Hassan, the movie builds on themes director Joobeur explored in her Oscar-nominated 2018 quick “Brotherhood,” as soon as once more monitoring household tensions when a younger ISIS combatant returns to his Tunisian house. With her function debut, Joobeur will now discover the story by means of a lens of maternal guilt, incorporating touches of magical realism and psychological horror for good measure.

Set for supply early subsequent yr, the movie is touted for a splashy pageant launch.

In reality, Joobeur had already left Marrakech and was already headed again into the frenzy of post-production by the point the prizes had been introduced; she accepted her prize with a notice.

“The end of the filmmaking process feels like a birth,” she wrote. “It brings a lot of fear and vulnerability as you prepare to release a part of your soul into the world. However, I also have a lot of hope. I’ve always deeply believed that storytelling can be a powerful antidote to that illusion that humanity is separated into clans. I hope my film can show that the human condition is universal, complex and can’t be tamed into a single narrative.”

Director Mo Harawe’s Somali-European co-production “The Village Next to Paradise” had already emerged as a significant buzz title effectively earlier than the venture scored a €20,000 ($21,700) grant. Industry attendees had been taken by the household drama’s evocation of the Somali desert – a pocket of the world all too hardly ever depicted on display screen – and showered specific reward on the movie’s images, equipped by DP Mostafa El Kashef. Sabine Moser and Oliver Neumann (“Great Freedom”) produce.

Rounding the post-production winners, director Mia Bendrimia’s private doc “The Magma” weaves collectively household secrets and techniques and nationwide trauma, following the France-born director again to her household’s ancestral house in Algeria, the place she is compelled to confront private apprehensions and unearth buried truths. Produced by Kira Simon-Kennedy, the movie acquired $10,800 in post-production funds.

On the event aspect, high honors went to Dima Hamdan’s “Amniesia,” which explores the Israeli-Palestinian battle by means of the guise of an espionage thriller, rife with ethical questions. A veteran journalist and self-taught filmmaker, Hamdan spent a decade with the BBC Arabic and BBC World Service and has teamed with producer Toni Copti for this debut function. Receiving $32,621 in growth assist, the venture follows an Israeli secret agent, beset with amnesia in Palestinian territory. 

Other growth winners embody “The Camel Driving School” from director Halima Ouardiri and producer Margaux Juvénal, “The Passion of Aline” from director Rokhaya Marieme Balde and producer Chantal Scheiner, and “Hold Time for Me,” from director Fradique and producer Laura Kloeckner. Rounding out the prizes, filmmaker Sammy Baloji’s Pasolini-inspired “Il Padre Salvaggio” snagged the Artekino International prize to the tune of $6,500.

Capping an version marked with a bulked-up co-production market and marred by heartbreak for the continuing state of affairs in then Middle East, lots of this yr’s winners voiced solidarity with the Palestinian individuals when accumulating the evening’s awards, with “The Magma” director Mia Bendrimia and producer Kira Simon-Kennedy even promising to share a few of their prize cash with Palestinian filmmakers.

In reality, “Amnesia” director Dima Hamdan by no means even made it to Marrakech, because the Palestinian filmmaker opted to not attend in particular person given the tough circumstances. Hamdan’s absence lent her acceptance speech, delivered in absentia, a fair higher cost.

“The joy and happiness we feel today are eclipsed by the sorrow and anger we feel when we think of our brothers and sisters in Gaza,” she wrote. “The relentless violence of the Israeli occupation casts a dark shadow over our celebration today.”

Hamas’ assaults on Israel on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 individuals with round 240 others taken hostage. Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry says greater than 14,800 individuals have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory marketing campaign, together with about 6,000 kids.

“Today, any film we watch, any book we read, even the bread we eat feels like an undeserved privilege when our people are being killed and starved,” she continued. “But this award is a reminder that we are not powerless, and that we can (and we will) tell our people’s story to the world. This award does not only support us as a team, its impact will resonate beyond these walls.”