Audience Award IDFA 2006

We Are Together (Thina simunye)
Paul Taylor

"Singing makes me think of my home, because that was where I learnt to sing". Slindile is 12 years old. She lives at the Agape Orphanage in South Africa, a home for children, many of whom have lost their parents to AIDS. The children form a choir which becomes a great source of comfort and hope. Meanwhile Slindile makes regular visits to her former home, where her parents taught her to sing as a child, and where her brother Sifiso is now unwell. It's unclear what is wrong with him, but Slindile's worst fears are confirmed by the hospice. He has HIV. Sifiso must face the inevitable, but the family still have the strength to sing. Back at the orphanage, despite the hardship the children have been through, they too continue to sing, which takes them on a journey they could only dream of.

http://www.wearetogetherfilm.com

UK, 2006
colour, video, 83 min
Director: Paul Taylor
Production: Teddy Leifer & Paul Taylor for Rise Films
Photography: Paul Taylor
Editing: Masahiro Hirakubo; Ollie Huddleston
Music: Dario Marianelli
Narration: Slindile Moya
Narrator: Slindile Moya
Involved TV Channel: Channel 4
Screening copy: Rise Films

Joris Ivens Award 2006

The Monastery - Mr. Vig & the Nun
Pernille Rose Grønkjær

The eccentric looking Mr. Vig walks through rooms and ponders what nuns need. Ashtrays? No, nuns don't smoke. Are the blankets thick enough? They're used to roughing it, right? The rooms belong to the Danish castle Hesbjerg, which Mr. Vig bought once upon a time with the idea of establishing a monastery there. Since 1950, he's been dreaming of this, and his dream would appear to be nearing realisation, now that an orthodox community in Russia has declared itself willing to send nuns and priests who can start the monastery and help with its development. The delegation is lead by Sister Amvrosija, who has her own ideas about how a Russian orthodox monastery should look and be run. Documentary filmmaker Pernille Rose Grønkjær follows Mr. Vig in his preparations for the nuns' arrival and throughout the monastery's first year. During the film shoot, he often asks her for advice and even physical help, and she interviews him casually, about his childhood, his views on love, religion, his dream and Sister Amvrosija. The clashes between the stubborn nun and the equally obstinate Mr. Vig make for delightful scenes, and the beautiful location of the dilapidated estate allows for some really nice cinematography.

Denmark, 2006
colour, 35mm, 84 min
Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Production: Sigrid Dyekjær for Tju Bang Film
Photography: Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Editing: Pernille Bech Christensen
Sound: Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Music: Johan Söderqvist
Involved TV Channel: DR TV; YLE
World Sales: First Hand Films
Screening copy: Danish Film Institute