Bermuda International Film Festival 2009

A challenging film of abuse and friendship showing teenagers where they ought not to be.

In September 2000, 191 governments committed to halve world poverty by 2015 and set eight goals to achieve this: the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). At the halfway point, eight directors were invited to share their vision of these major issues, each by way of a short film. MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: Tiya’s Dream, d. Abderrahmane Sissako (Ethopia). In a small country school, children have a lesson in the MDGs but one child, Tiya, is distracted and staring out of the window… MDG 2 Achieve universal primary education: The Letter, d. Gael Garcia Bernal (Iceland). A letter is delivered. A father goes to work. Throughout this normal day, he will remember that education is the only way to be free. MDG 3 Promote gender equality and empower women: How Can It Be? d. Mira Nair (USA). Base on true story, wife and mother, Nainab, makes the complicated decision to leave her sheltered Brooklyn life and follow her heart within the realm of the values she holds sacred. MDG 4 Reduce child mortality: Mansion on the Hill, d. Gus Van Sant (USA). Images of youth at play are constrasted against the harrowing facts of infant mortality. MDG 5 Improve maternal health: The Story of Panshin Beka, d. Jan Kounen (Peru). In Amazonia, pregnant Panshin Beka feels labour pains and, with her husband and grandmother, attempts the difficult journey by boat, with no money or fuel, to the hospital in the city. MDG 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases: SIDA, d. Gasper Noe (Burkina Faso). A portrait of Dieudonne Ilboudo, a man infected with HIV in a hospital in Burkina Faso. MDG 7 Ensure environmental sustainability: The Water Diary, d. Jane Campion (Australia). Eleven year old Ziggy writes in her diary about the things that happen during the worst drought in history. She reports, also, on the dreams people have about water… MDG 8 Develop a global partnership for development: Person to Person, d. Wim Wenders (Germany). At a TV station, reporters prepare news stories on the state of the Millenium Goals until something unusual happens. Winner: Cinema for Peace Award for Contribution to UN Millenium Development Goals

Adama is a successful scientist happily living in France and ignoring the small family he has left behind in Senegal: a grandmother and a deaf and dumb younger sister. Summoned home by an urgent message, he rediscovers a country in chaos. Shockingly, his sister is caught up in prostitution and entangled in a gangsta lifestyle. Adama’s instinct is to punish his sister but he soon goes after the gang leader with grim consequences. Assisted by his best friend, who forces him to open his eyes to the social condition of the country and family he has abandoned, Adama must decide whether to become part of the solution. Part social commentary, part thriller, The Absence is an atmospheric and contemporary sketch of Senegal that touches on issues of drugs, prostitution, corruption, brain drain, and, possibly, redemption. Filmmaker Mama Keita gives us a film that urgently races towards a dramatic, exciting and unexpected climax. The Absence depicts Senegal with all its contradictions so we see horrible, graphic violence as well as sweet friendship but, above all, we hope there is hope.

Across North Africa can be found colourful, intricate murals, depicting the zenith of the Arabian empire and Michel Ocelot has recreated this rich tapesrty with wonderful results. In an original fairytale, reminiscent of Scheherazade's Arabian Nights, Azur, the blonde, blue-eyed son of a noblewoman, and Asmar, the dark skinned and dark-eyed child of the nurse, are brought up together until they are cruelly separated by Azur’s father and Asmar is banished. Years later, remembering the nurse’s childhood stories of her homeland and of the legendary Djinn-fairy waiting to be released from her chamber by a good and heroic prince, Azur sets sail for this land. Arriving in a strange place, he is rejected on account of his “unlucky” blue eyes, so he resolves never to open them again and ends up a blind beggar. Meanwhile, Asmar has become a dashing horseman and the two are destined to meet again as young men in their respective quests for the heart of the Djinn fairy. Themes include class struggle, discrimination, honour and respect. Children of all ages will love this.

The filmmaker took four years to record life in two of Panama’s ghettos - Barraza and El Chorrillo. Photographer John Urbano and his crew filmed the on-going destruction of these two impoverished communities. Urbano approached the project with self-confessed naivety; he was clearly lucky to escape the first few days with his life. As the film unfolds we become aware, as he did, of the dangers that pervade this area and yet, as he points out, there is tremendous beauty too. A man is left homeless with nothing more than the clothes he wears but he creates and decorates a new home out of driftwood and flotsam on the beach. Even when the authorities have it removed, he rebuilds and seems happy, stating simply ‘without a home you have no life’. The ‘fight’ is to survive, to have a home, to have a life. As for ‘beauty?’ Urbano finds beauty in abundance; from the smile of a little girl, to the ambition of a champion boxer, to the twinkling eyes of an old man. This is a gem of a film.

This lyrical first feature, shot in a style of documentary realism that is poignant and, at times, gently humorous, tells the intertwined stories of inhabitants of a remote fishing village in southern Iran. With no fish left in the sea, the villagers smuggle goods and sometimes people. Teenager Moto’s father has left on a smuggling trip and not yet returned. To help his pregnant mother and a sister who, it emerges, was abandoned by her husband, Moto smuggles too. This involves wild speeding boats that are beached recklessly so that silent chador-clad women can unload and hide the goods – just ahead of chasing police! Meanwhile, the middleman keeps a casual eye on Moto, while engaging in increasingly worrisome phone calls with his wife in Tehran. Just as village life is in transition, Moto is changing and maturing too. He stops waiting and fatefully decides to seek his father. Be Calm and Count to Seven is an accomplished observation of life and character that will grab your attention and tug at your heart.