We are very happy that Farid Eslam, the director of Yallah! Undergroud, film shot in Czech coproduction and supported within the year-round programme East Silver Caravan, has been awarded the Hessian Film Award for the best documentary of the year. A significant number of other documentaries from East Silver Caravan selection has made it to the programmes of key internatinal film festivals.
The director, who graduated from FAMU in Prague, Farid Eslam, decided to introduce the present-day artists from the Middle East in Yallah! Underground. These people represent a young generation of Arabs, who live and work within various cultural and political environments and influences. They can thus incorporate in their works of art all kinds of conflicts with which they must often cope on both personal and professional levels. Together they form a truly progressive and conscious underground culture, which is getting more and more significant in every major city in the Middle East, perhaps the most remarkable cultural area of today's world. Within the Hessian Film Award, the film that was co-produced by Egypt, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and the Czech Republic was given the prize of 15,000 €. Congratulations!
At CinÉast festival in Luxembourg, two Caravan members, Daniel's World and Jenica & Perla will be screened. In Warsaw, apart from Yallah! Underground, the Croatian documentary called Sick will be screened in the world premiere. The visitors of the IFF INChicago had a chance to watch the American premiere of the Romanian-British film Pefection is Forever. At Szczecin European Film Festival, the short playful documentary by Jon Bang Carlsen, nominated for Silver Eye Award will be on the programme, together with Cats in Riga and a successful Croatian documentary Naked Island,which has already won awards at festivals in Trieste, Zagreb and Sarajevo.
Mexico City IFF has presented four of the Caravan documentaries: Russian film about the paralymionics Spirit In Motion, a strong Hungarian story about the young murderers Kain's Children, a Serbian documentary about miners In the Dark and the Polish title Aleppo. Notes from the Dark.
The Dangerous World of Rajko Doleček, developed under the Ex Oriente Workshop will after its premiere at Dok Leipzig be presented in the Czech premiere at Jihlava IDFF, where it will also compete for the Silver Eye Award in Feature Film category. In Jihlava, the audience will also have a chance to watch Jan Foukal's film about Czech tramping scene, Amerika, and the world premiere of Trapped by Law, from the East Silver Caravan selection.
We have our fingers crossed for all the documentaries and hope they will be appreciated by both juries and audiences of the festivals.
