The Slow Food on Film Festival 2006 concluded with the traditional award ceremony in Bra, Piedmont, yesterday, Monday May 1.
The Slow Food on Film – Shorts jury, presided by Polish composer Jan Kaczmarek, Oscar winner in 2005 for his soundtrack for Finding Neverland, awarded the Golden Snail and a 2,500 euro cheque to L’age de raison (The Age Of Reason) directed by Myriam Aziza (France) with the following motivation:
For the courageous yet delicate way in which the film raises fundamental issues of religion and food.
For its assertion of the right of the individual to build new existential options and explore the personal applicability of rules through freedom of thought and critical appraisal of the information received from experience, by trusting emotion and taste and simply by asking questions— all this despite the pressure of social and cultural surroundings .
Last but not least, for the sensitivity and authenticity of the main character, beautifully directed by Myriam Aziza and no less beautifully acted by little Fanny Bel-Giess.
The Jury also commended the following five films
Mi Smo Ono ‘To Izgubimo (We Are What We Lost) by Srdjan Mitrovic (Serbia), ‘For its moving reconstruction of a specific personal experience within a given tradition to remind us of the constant interconnection between life, food and death’.
Ohayo (Good Morning) by Shinya Okada (Japan), ‘For its elegant and mature interpretation of food as a vehicle of communication for a family-to-be and for its flawless and essential aesthetic rigour’.
Kare Kare Zvako (Mother’s Day) by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe), ‘For its original combination of myth, music and dance to create a metaphor of the eternal struggle between two forms of power: male and female. How many of us haven’t “eaten” our mothers and/or wives at some time in our lives!?’
Kafe 469 (Café 469) by Atefeh Khademolreza (Iran), ‘For its deliberate and dramatic use of amateurish aesthetics and technique to conjure up a sense of the frailty of life and the fleetingness of pleasure’.
Doña Ana by Marlon Vasquez (Colombia), ‘For its concise, matter-of-fact description of the sad fate of an old woman through an innovative mix of documentary and animation’.
The Slow Food on Film – Doc jury, presided by Deborah Koons Garcia, awarded the Golden Snail and a cash prize of 2,000 euros to the US director Taggart Siegel for The Real Dirt on Farmer John, the story of an unconventional famrer in the Mid-West, and the Silver Snail and 500 euros to the German/Polish director Bertram Verhaag for his Leben ausser kontrolle – von genfood und designerbabies, an exhaustively researched documentary on the use of GMOs.