Djibouti’s “The Gravedigger,” Morocco’s “Zanka Contact” and Ethiopia’s “Sweet Annoyance” were among the major winners in the post-production and development categories of the second edition of the“The Gravedigger,” by Khadar Ahmed, and “Zanka Contact,” by Ismaël el Iraki, won the top awards – €20,000 and $11,000 respectively – in the post-production competition, and “The Gravedigger” also won the new $3,300 NAAS prize for film circulation. Both pics are first features.
$1.2 million “Gravedigger” about a struggling gravedigger in the slums of Djibouti City and his 13-year old runaway son, is a coproduction between Finland, France and Germany.Director Khadar Ahmed has been based in Helsinki since the age of 15, but is originally from Somalia. The film was shot in Djibouti, a tiny country next to Ethiopia. “For me having the film made is the biggest prize,” he said to.
The pic’s producer, Mehret Mandefro, is Ethiopian but only recently returned to her country after spending several years producing projects in Los Angeles, including executive producing documentary feature “Little White Lie” and Canadian/Irish coproduction “Sweetness in the Belly,” by Ethiopian director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, starring Dakota Fanning.
The number of projects discussed at the workshops this year were almost double the level in last year’s first edition, reflecting growing interest in Arab and African cinema for festivals, sales agents and distributors.Netflix is the main sponsor of the Atlas Workshops and had three executives attending, headed by Claire Willats, who was also a jury member of the post-production competition.
Canada’s HotDocs inked a formal partnership with the workshops this year, with a separate selection of three projects in its Blue Ice program. The executives who contributed to the panel discussions and also took part in mentoring sessions with projects included Paul Federbush , Hanaa Issa , Dora Bouchoucha , Ayman El Amir , Mohamed Hefzy , Claire Diao , Daniela Persico , Sarah Chazelle , Magalie Armand , Khalil Benkirane , Olena Decock , Soleil Gharbieh , Judy Kibinge , Steven Markovitz and Jowe Harfouche .
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