PARIS, (PIC)
The French-Belgian documentary “Inside Gaza”, which documents the diaries of Agence France-Presse correspondents in the Gaza Strip after October 7, 2023, won the Grand Prize at the 33rd edition of the FIGRA International Documentary Film Festival, Friday evening in France.
The film, directed by French director Helene Lam Trong and co-produced by “Arte France”, “RTBF”, and “Factstory”, reviews the lives of four journalists and free lancers working with Agence France-Presse, highlighting the challenges and difficulties they face in practicing their profession inside a Strip torn apart by war and difficult for the foreign press to access. The work lasted for 76 minutes, and it also won the Audience Award.
As for the Special Jury Prize, it went to the film “Fragments of War” (“Fragments de guerre”) by director Solene Chalvon-Fioriti, which presents testimonies of women from the heart of the conflict, from Gaza to the occupied West Bank.
Fifty-seven works participated in the official competition of the festival, which concludes its activities Saturday.
In the Human Rights category, the film “Political Prisoners, the Voices that Defy the Kremlin” (Politzek, les voix qui defient le Kremlin) by Manon Loizeau and Ekaterina Mamontova won, reviewing Russian political prisoners who criticized the Russian war in Ukraine.
In the short works category under 40 minutes, the film “Life Story” (Histoire de vie) by Florence Elo won the Grand Prize.
The jury also gave a special mention to the film “Gaza: The Weapon of Hunger” (Gaza l’arme de la faim) by Fanny Morel and Jeremy Beer, which documents the famine that affected more than 500,000 people in Gaza, according to United Nations reports. Director Fanny Morel was previously honored last year for a film documenting the military campaign of the Israeli army in Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
The “Terre d’Histoire INA-FIGRA” award, which is presented to work that contributes through archives to the understanding of current society, was won by the film “Catherine Leroy, a Frenchwoman in the Vietnam War” (Catherine Leroy, une Francaise dans la guerre du Vietnam) by Marie-Christine Gambart, which retraces the career of one of the few women who covered the war in Vietnam between 1966 and 1968.
In the “From Another Perspective” category, the film “The Two Giseles” (Les 2 Gisele) by Juliette Guerin, about the struggle of two young women in southern France in 1978 against the crime of rape, won the Audience Award.
