Another award joined the ones won by the documentary by Maciej J. Drygas, "Abu Haraz" – last weekend, the film won the award at the Jean Rouch International Ethnographic Film Festival, held in Paris. The film was honoured with the Monde en Regards awards, which means that it will be translated and subtitled in French for free. In the justification of the verdict, we can read that the jury awarded the film "both for its aesthetic value, and for showing in a very specific way which kind of challenges a society may face, trying to maintain its cultural identity and territorial integrity."
The eponymous "Abu Haraz" is a small village located among the deserts of northern Sudan. Building a large dam on the Nile is in conflict with the ancient, natural rhythm of life of the local population. The filmmakers spent many years with the inhabitants of Abu Haraz, observing their urgent attempts to reverse the course of history.
So far, the film by Maciej J. Drygas has been shown at almost twenty foreign film festivals and awarded several times. It won, among others, the Best Full-Length Documentary Award at the Cinema Verite film festival in Iran, the Grand Prix award at the Ânûû-rû Âboro festival in New Caledonia and the Big Golden Nanook as well as the Silver Nanook award at the Russian film festival Flahertiana.
The full list of the award-winning films at the Jean Rouch festival can be found here.