The Winners of Andaras 2019
For the uniqueness of the story told with great skills and empathy within a wonderfully photographed landscape. We were struck by the grace of the gaze that follows the protagonist accompanying her and showing us a reality unknown to us, always maintaining a distance full of respect and love for the young protagonist. A powerful short and hard to forget.
The "Best Narrative short" award of the first edition of the Andaras traveling film festival goes to Dekel Berenson for his film ASHMINA.
Many have told stories of collective exodus and individual stories of escape from the war. But the Yarmouk Pianist does it with a delicacy that makes the war even more alienating and stupid. There is not a pertaining look for one or the other (in Yarmouk, basically a Palestinian neighbourhood in Damascus, the conflict has crossed and split the Palestinian community): the war is seen as an epidemic that infects everyone, and wipes out memories of the past and dreams of the future. With the same distance the protagonist speaks about the escape, the exodus, the sea and the borders, the arrival and the reception. And on everything there is the piano, the music as a saving beauty and as yet towards the past, a story about the present and about hope. For these reasons we feel we can assign to Vikram Ahluwalia and Elliot Manches and their film "The Pianist of Yarmouk" the "best documentary" award.
Able to tackle a complex and difficult subject such as suicide with delicacy, courage and raw poetry, the "best supershort" award goes to the young director Max Shoham and his "Sincerely Anthony"
The “best smart short” award goes to a work able to speak about travel and the pursuit of adventures with a hint of irony, picturing the stubbornness of not giving in to appearances and the possibility of taking refuge in the imagination as the last landing in the journey of life. For this reason, the “the best smart short” award goes to FRANCISCO LIDON PLAZA with “Dulcinea”.
For the humaneness, the skills and technical expertise of a very young actor who gave us an unforgettable and powerful performance, the "special jury prize" goes to Hasan Khoshhalalat, and at the movie THE CITY OF HONEY.
The special Andaras award goes to a work that was able to tell us about the closeness of lonely souls, and that reminds us of the importance of travel as a medium that unites different realities with the "human warmth" that can sometimes overcome the impossible. For his very personal and not very fashionable poetry, for the delicacy of his eyes and great sensitivity, the Andaras special award goes to Francesco Piras and his film "Our concert".