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PIRATES OF SALÉ

78 minutes, 2014
Réalisation : Rosa ROGERS (Royaume-Uni) et Merieme ADDOU (Maroc)
Production : Redbird Productions (Royaume-Uni)

In the town of Salé, on what used to be Morocco’s pirate coast, a new generation of pirates set off with the county’s first professional circus. The Shems’y Circus is next to the poorest slums, and every year hundreds of young people go to the auditions there, looking for a different future.
The documentary “Pirates of Salé” follows four of them who are learning to live independently, to speak freely, to defy tradition and embrace a concept totally foreign to them: artistic freedom.

Rosa ROGERS has made several documentaries, many for Channel 4 and the BBC. Her films include: “The Greatest Show on Earth”, about a deaf dancer in the Rio de Janeiro carnival; “Dragon People”, the journey of a young photographer in today’s China; “Back to Bombay”, in which a young English woman with Indian roots sets off for her first visit to her family in India; “Bangladesh – Who will Pay?”; “Pirates of Salé”, about the Shems’y Circus; and “Casablanca Calling” about the first female imams in Morocco.

Born in Morocco, Merieme ADDOU studied law at the Mohammed V University. She lives and works in Rabat as a correspondent for Radio D-W. She is also a producer with the Moroccan production company Camino Media. She has worked as correspondent for Kuwait TV and Al Jazeera International, and as a producer for ADTV, Qatar TV, BBC 2 (“The Changing Face of Islam”), BBC Radio 4, Time Magazine, the Financial Times, BBC World, SABC, National Geographic Magazine, Fox News, CNN, and Bloomberg. She produced a documentary for national Moroccan television about Orson Welles and his relationship with the town of Essaouira.
“Pirates of Salé” is her first documentary as director.

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L’ACCADEMIA DELLA FOLLIA

52 minutes, 2014
Director: Anush HAMZEHIAN (Italy)
Production Company: Point du Jour, France Télévisions (France)

How is life for the mentally ill when they are not locked up?
To answer this question Anush Hamzehian made this film in Trieste, where mad people have lived in the community since the psychiatric hospital closed in 1978. Trieste has been called the “Hollywood of the Mad” because there is a group of world-famous actors, the Academy of Madness, which puts on two shows a year in the city’s most prestigious theatre. The actors of this unique company – Claudio Dario, Donatella, Charlie, Pino – are the unforgettable characters in this film.

Anush HAMZEHIAN was born in Padua, Italy, in 1980.
Having studied communication, he began his career as a video editor and director. He made: “Le città continue” (26 minutes 2004), “La dolce tragedia di Martone” (26 minutes 2008), “Appunti su Sorrentino” (26 minutes 2009), “La mano e la voce” (52 minutes, 2009), Mediterranean Art, Heritage and Cultures Award at the 2010 PriMed, “Le jardin des merveilles” (52 minutes 2011), “Les Enfants de l’Odyssée” (52 minutes 2012), “L’Accademia della Follia” (52 minutes 2014) and “Je préfère aller en enfer” (40 minutes 2014).

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L’HÉRITAGE DU SILENCE

52 minutes, 2015
Director: Anna BENJAMIN (France) and Guillaume CLERE (France)
Production Company: Découpages, Toute l’Histoire (France)

Armen, Dogukan, Yasar and Nazli are Turks and Kurds. But a recent discovery has upset their existence: they are also Armenian.
In 1915, their parents or grandparents survived the genocide by hiding their true identity. Some were rescued by Turkish and Kurdish families, others went into hiding. All converted to Islam, were assimilated and forgotten.
Today, after a century of fear and silence, this history has resurfaced. Over the last ten years, more and more Turks are discovering this family secret and claiming their ancestors’ Armenian heritage. While Armenians across the world prepare to commemorate the centenary of the genocide, “L’Heritage du Silence” gives a face to these descendants of Islamised Armenians, who are probably more than a million today in Turkey .
The film follows Armen, Dogukan, Yasar and Nazli in their struggle on an inner journey through the history which was told to them and hidden from them.

Anna BENJAMIN, graduating in 2012 from Strasbourg’s school of journalism (Cuej), made this documentary having worked on several on-line current affairs sites such as LeMonde.fr, TF1 News, the TF1 and LC1 web-sites, Rue89 and LesInrocks. Co-author of two web-documentaries, “Palestiniennes, Mères Patrie” and “Etudiants en Temps de Guerre”, today she is making longer documentaries.

Guillaume CLERE was born in Singapore. He grew up in Portugal, France and the Lebanon, then studied in Latin America. He has always been fascinated by questions of identity. During his training as photojournalist at Strasbourg’s school of journalism (CUEJ), he made a transmedia documentary “I Goth My World”, broadcast on Arte, lemonde.fr and LesInrocks in October 2012. He worked for 2 years as investigative photojournalist for LCP’s État de santé. He was also cameraman on “Renaître à Bahia”, a 52-minute documentary on KTO

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LE PEUPLE DE NEJMEH

52 minutes, 2015
Director: Jonathan CADIOT (France)
Production Company: Talweg Production (France), Road 2 Films (Liban), Histoire (France), Al Jazeera Documentary (Qatar), with the support of TV5 Monde (France), Radio Télévision Suisse, RSI (Switzerland), RDI Radio Canada (Canada)

In recent years, political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon have become such that the military have replaced supporters at football matches. Historically, football, politics and religion are inseparable there. Every community has a football club, each funded by a political party. In this context, Nejmeh’s club is exception. The most popular team in the country, its players and fans are of all faiths. They call themselves “the incredible people of Nejmeh”.
Tracing the club’s history shows another Lebanon and brings a new reading to the country’s religious-political history since 1945. Above all, Nejmeh seems to have resisted all crises, all wars and embodies for many the allegory of a united, ideal Lebanon.

Jonathan CADIOT
Having studied geography, specialising in developing countries, Jonathan CADIOT made his first documentaries in Latin America: “Sin maiz no hay pais” and “Par la raison ou par la force”. In both Mexico and Chile he became interested in social issues connected to the indigenous peoples. “Le Peuple de Nejmeh” is his first historical film.

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LA REVOLUTION DES FEMMES – Un siècle de féminisme…

54 minutes, 2014
Director: Feriel BEN MAHMOUD (France, Tunisia)
Production Company: Drôle de Trame, with the support of France Télévisions (France)

What role have the Arab revolutions given women? As they took to the streets alongside men, women’s rights and status have un-leashed passions and political battles. Yet 50 years ago, in the wake of independence, liberation and emancipation for Arab women seemed round the corner as political leaders proclaimed they wanted freedom for all. 50 years later however, Arab women have to fight more than ever to conquer or defend their hard-won rights. What has happened? And how do Arab women manage to rattle societies padlocked by sexism and patriarchy? This film tells the story of their struggles, which began more than a century ago. From Beirut to Casablanca, passing through Riyadh, Cairo, Tunis, and Algiers, Feriel Ben Mahmoud has collected testimonies from early activists, committed artists and today’s young feminists.

An historian by training, Feriel BEN MAHMOUD, has made many reportages and a dozen documentaries for television. Her central preoccupation as a director is the Muslim-Arab world, as it is now and as it was in the past. Among her longer films is one on French military prisons at Foum Tataouine in Tunisia for France 5; “Tunisie, histoire de femmes”, also for France 5 and more recently “Tunisie, année zéro”, for the Public Sénat about the chaotic beginnings of Tunisian democracy. She is also author of several historical films: “L’Algérie coloniale”, “Le tourisme en Orient”, and “Bataillons d’Afrique”.

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ÉVÈNEMENTS DE PHOCÉE 1914

50 minutes, 2014
Directors: Agnès SKLAVOS (Greece) and Stelios TATAKIS (Greece)
Production Company: Tatakis AV Productions (Greece)

June 1914. Just before the outbreak of the First World War, the entire Greek population living on the coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey) had to evacuate their villages and flee to Greece, abandoning homes and land.
This expulsion, happening during a difficult political and diplomatic period, did not have the impact one might have expected.
At the time French archaeologist Felix Sartiaux, and three colleagues were in the region on an archaeological mission to discover traces of the city of Phocaea (now Foça in Turkey).
They were not only witnesses of this sudden attack but managed to save and help a considerable number of Greeks in their flight.

Agnès SKLAVOS was born in London. She studied French literature at Athens University and film directing at the Stavrakos film school.
She worked as assistant and first assistant on several Greek feature films. Her first film as a director, “O Kir Orpheas” (2004), won the Greek Best Documentary at the 6th Kalamata International Documentary Festival.
For 12 years she has been making TV series, shorts and documentaries.

Stelios TATAKIS was born in Athens. He studied IT programming at Delta and lighting camerawork at the Stavrakos film school.
Since 1991 he has worked as an editor, DP, director, GFX and post-production supervisor, editing TV commercials, industrial films and features.

Together they have the following credits: “Ta kolitiria – Playing with Shadows” (documentary, 2012); “White & Blue” (short film 2012), “Heaven On-line” (short film 2012) and “Extreme Walks” (short film 2011).

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VOYAGE EN BARBARIE

71 minutes, 2014
Directors: Delphine DELOGET (France) and Cécile ALLEGRA (France)
Production Company: Memento, Public Sénat, with the support of France Télévisions (France)

Since 2009, trading in humans has been rampant in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. The victims, mostly Eritrean, are kidnapped there and tortured until an exorbitant ransom is paid. Robel, Germay, Filmon Halefom survived these torture camps. Through their words and actions recorded in the privacy of their rooms, the film traces their long journey to the heart of human cruelty. From Stockholm to Cairo, where they found refuge, each survivor recounts a nightmare mental exile which “Voyage en Barbarie” tries to recreate step by step.

Delphine DELOGET and Cécile ALLEGRA make documentaries for ARTE, France 3 and France 5. Delphine’s long “No London Today”, winning awards at several festivals, was shown at the Cannes Festival by ACID. Winner of the Villa Médicis hors les murs for “Qui se souvient de Minik?”, Delphine’s long drama film “Finistère” also won a Beaumarchais Foundation award, and the CNC quality award for a short drama co-produced by France 3.
Cécile worked as a journalist on Le Monde. Her film  “Haïti, la blessure de l’âme” was a finalist for the Albert Londres Award and selected for several festivals, including Figra. Winner of SCAM’s Brouillon d’un rêve award for “La Brigade”, she is finishing a book (ed. Stock) about the re-emergence of child labour in Europe, based on her film “Une enfance au travail” shown on France 3.

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LE COSE BELLE

88 minutes, 2013
Réalisation : Agostino FERRENTE (Italie) et Giovanni PIPERNO (Italie)
Production : Pirata M.C., Parallelo 41, Point Film, Ipotesi Cinema, Bianca Film (Italie)

In Naples, time does not exist. It’s a popular belief, a superstition, a good luck charm, a joke, a song. In Naples, we spend our time waiting, and then, suddenly, we spend it remembering. Will beautiful things happen? Have they already passed? The film compares four lives in the Naples of 1999 – full of hope – and the Naples of today, completely paralyzed. Four young Neapolitans give us to see the burden of becoming adults: Fabio and Enzo, two boys of 12 years , always children … and Adele and Silvana, two girls of 14 years … Four looks full of beauty, sadness, ingenuity, fragility, fear, hope and cynicism.

Agostino FERRENTE, director, producer and Artistic Director, was born in 1971 in Cerignola, Italy. Assistant director of Silvano Agosti and Nico Cirasola, he obtained his first recognitions in international festivals for his short films “Poco più della metà di zero” in 1993, and “Opinioni di un pirla” in 1994. He then directed with Giovanni Piperno two award-winning documentaries: “Intervista a mia madre” and “Il film di Mario”. In 2001, he founded Apollo 11 in Rome to save the Apollo theater-theater, which was to be transformed into a playroom. With Mario Tronco, of the Avion Travel group, he creates in the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio which will become a documentary film in 2006, “The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio”, winner of the Prize Art, Heritage and Cultures of the Mediterranean at PriMed 2007 .

Giovanni PIPERNO was born in 1964. He studied photography. He worked as a photographer, operator on several films and commercials, and from 1992 started producing and directing videos and documentaries, and TV shows. His documentary “L’Esplosione” won the Torino Film Festival 2003. Among his latest documentaries: “Il pezzo mancante”, 2010, 71 ‘; “The Danza delle Api”, 2008, 46 ‘; “This is my sister”, 2006, 58 ‘; “L’Esplosione”, 2003, 75 ‘; “Scusi, dov’è il documentario?”, 2003, 18 ‘

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EVAPORATING BORDERS

73 minutes, 2014
Director: Iva RADIVOJEVIC (Croatia)
Production Company: ivaasks Films (United-States)

“Evaporating Borders” is a broad visual essay on the restrictive policy of some countries vis-a-vis migrant populations.
Guided by the director’s curiosity and her personal reflections, the film dissects the experience of asylum seekers in Cyprus. Through a series of vignettes, it poetically weaves the themes of migration, tolerance, identity and belonging.
Click here to see an extract.

Iva RADIVOJEVIC is a director. She spent her early years in Yugoslavia and Cyprus, before settling in New York.
Her films explore the themes of identity and migration.

PriMed news

AGORA

117 minutes, 2015
Director : Yorgos AVGEROPOULOS (Greece)
Production : Small Planet (Greece), WDR (Germany), Al Jazeera Arabic (Qatar)

Having spent years observing the world, director Yorgos Avgeropoulos turns his camera to his own country: Greece. He films the development of the financial crisis, its impact on lives, in every social class. He witnesses street demonstrations, solidarity movements, but also the rise of political extremism. He interviews influential personalities, experts and policy makers in search of answers, to overcome an unprecedented crisis.
Click here to see extract.

Yorgos AVGEROPOULOS was born in Athens in 1971. He is a journalist and documentary film-maker working for Greek television channels. He was a correspondent during the conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Palestine. In 2000 he created the series “Exandas”, making over 100 documentaries broadcast on Greek state television and worldwide.
Among his latest documentaries: “Agorá” (2015), “The Lost Signal of Democracy” (2014, winner of the Reportage Award at the 2014 PriMed), “People and Numbers” (2013), “El Sistema – Saving Lives” (2013), “Golden Times: Cassandra’s Treasure” (2012), “Black Vilva” (2012), “Charity, Diplomacy and Business” (2012), “The Midas Effect” (2011) and “Stealing from the Poor” (2011).