ZIFF Dhow Awards 2001

List of honorees
The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), part of The Festival of the Dhow Countries, has been evolving in an admirable and inspiring manner for the people of Zanzibar and the entire East African region. Its impact on the landscape of the African film industry is growing, and it has succeeded in attracting African cinephiles, the media and many partners, who have now taken note of its great potentiality. www.ziff.or.tz >>

GOLDEN DHOW Award—Best Feature Film
Sandstorm (India)
Dir: Jag Mohan
Based on the true story of a low-caste potter woman who starts working for the government's Saathin (women's rights) programme. She is savagely gang-raped by upper-caste elders in her village, but her reals rape begins when she is forced to run from pillar to post in a judicial system which is corrupted by chauvinism, sexism, feudalism and political opportunism.

SILVER DHOW Award—Feature Film category
Whispers (Iran)
Dir: Parviz Shabazi
Three young children whisper their way through the towering world of adults looking for someone to carry out a ceremony for their youngest sibling. They survive however they can, by selling lemonade or prayer books, but their task is not as easy as they first thought.

GOLDEN DHOW Award—Best Short Feature Film
One Evening in July (Tunisia)
Dir: Raja Amari
This is a brief insight into the relationship between the bitter beautician Saida, and an anxious and uncertain bride-to-be, Miriam. The tension heightens as Saida reveals her hatred for arranged marriages, and the groom's parents begin to intensify the pressure on their daughter-to-be.

SILVER DHOW Award—Short Feature Film category
The Father (Ethiopia)
Dir: Ermias Woldeamlak
During the period of the Derg in Ethiopia, the artist Alazar shelters his friend, the political activist Jonas, from the military. There is a heavy personal price for both Alazar and his wife Rahel to pay for this action. Alazar is imprisoned and later released, but Jonas is killed and his sister later returns from exile to revisit the chain of horrific events that led to his death.

GOLDEN DHOW Award—Best Documentary
A Female Cabby in Bel Abbes (Algeria/Belgium)
Dir: Belkacem Hadj Hadj
As a widowed mother of three, Soumicha was forced to earn a living by becoming the only female taxi driver in this Algerian city. She takes us around her daily circuit, meeting her regulars and her supporters, in a society where women are seen to be nothing more than housewives. In the course of her travels, we meet other women who, like her, are struggling for more freedom.

SILVER DHOW Award—Documentary category
When Men Cry (Morocco/Belgium)
Dir: Yasmine Kassari
Every year, thirty thousand Moroccans cross the Straits of Gibraltar: fourteen thousand are turned back, one thousand drown, and fifteen thousand manage to set themselves up. This film follows several of those who made it, but claiming refugee status leaves them with very little in Spain, and nothing but debts back in Morocco.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD—Most popular film at ZIFF 2001
Yolngu Boy (Australia)
Dir: Stephen Johnson
Sometimes living your dream is the best way to stay alive. Lorrpu, Milika and Botj are three boys linked by ceremony, kinship and a common dream - to become great Yolngu hunters. But their Aborigine laws are not the laws of North East Arnhem Land, and when these two collide, they flee their community and embark on an epic journey to save their dream and themselves. This was the Official Film for 2001 National Youth Week in Australia.

CHAIRMAN'S CHOICE AWARD—ZIFF Chairpersonís Choice
T-Shirt Travels (USA)
Dir: Shanta Bloemen
T-Shirt Travels takes us on a journey from a local charity bin in the USA, to the places where these donations are put to use in Southern Africa. Focusing on Zambia, this documentary investigates the second hand clothes business, 'mitumba', and seeks to understand and illuminate the growing inequalities between North and South.

GOLDEN DHOW AWARD
for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC

Dr Remmy Ongala, Tanzania

GOLDEN DHOW AWARD
for LIFETIME ACHIEVMENT IN POETRY

Haji Gora Haji, Zanzibar/Tanzania

FESTIVAL JURY—SPECIAL MENTION: Best Actress
Omi Baya
for her outstanding performance as Saida in One Evening in July (Tunisia)
Dir: Raja Amari

Best montage and for allowing Africans to tell their own stories —
Nous ne sommes plus mort/We Are No Longer Dead (Rwanda/France/Belgium)
Dir: Francois L. Woukoache

For artistic sophistication and courageous revelations —
The Secret Safari (South Africa)
Dir: Tom Zubrycki

For Best Scenario, mixing imagination and reality —
Sweet Agony (Iran)
Dir: Ali-Reza Davudnezhad

For its educational value and special relevance to the Dhow culture —
The Maritime Memory of the Arabs (Mauritius/Oman/France)
Dir: Khal Torabully

For its brave treatment of a sensitive issue at home in Zanzibar —
Surrender (Tanzania)
Dir: Celine Gilbert


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