Signis

Interreligious Prize in Nyon 2009

Nyon, April 29, 2009 (SIGNIS/Interfilm) - At the documentary festival ’Visions du réel’ which took place in Nyon (Switzerland) from April 23 to 29, 2009, the Interreligious Jury awarded its Prize of CHF 5,000 - given by the Swiss Catholic Church and the Conference of protestantes Churches in the French speaking part of Switzerland - to the film Seishin (Mental) by Kazuhiro Soda (Japan/USA).

"Mental" shows how blurred the limit between normality and illness can be

"The film is focussing on individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses. They let us in their inner life, showing how blurred the limit between normality and illness can be. The film presents a respectful image of human integrity."

A commendation went to the film Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten (The Woman with the 5 Elephants) by Vadim Jendreyko (Germany/Switzerland, www.5elefanten.ch).

"For its poetic portrait of the translator Swetlana Geier, who preserved her humanity despite terrible life experiences."

From 2005 SIGNIS and INTERFILM have been present at the Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon (Switzerland) with an Interreligious Jury. Since 2008, the Jury includes a representative of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Church, and a member from the Jewish and the Muslim faith. The Jury awards its Prize to a film from the international competition and possibly a commendation. This Prize endowed with CHF 5,000 by the Swiss Catholic and the Swiss Protestant Churches (Conference of the Churches in the French speaking part of Switzerland/CER and the Reformierte Medien in Zurich).

The members of the Interreligious Jury in 2009 are: Herz Frank, filmdirector (Latvia/Israel), Saïda Keller-Messahli, President of the “Forum for a progressive Islam” (Tunisia/Switzerland, Marie-Therese Mäder, Scientist in Cinema and Religions (Switzerland) and Mikael Mogren, Theologian (Sweden), all nominated by the Swiss representatives of SIGNIS and INTERFILM.

http://www.visionsdureel.ch

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