- Feuerherz ("Heart of Fire")
- Restless
- I've Loved You So Long...
- Lemon Tree (Panorama)
- Mafrouza/Couer (documentary)
The original plan was to see only four films but a special screening was arranged just for our jury to see Lemon Tree, an Israeli film that has received much critical acclaim but not in the main competition.
A German production based in Eritrea, which borders Ethiopia. The filmmaker used what is known as “imbedded filmmaking” in creating this film by using as actors local Eritreans that have lived the horrors of warfare. The film has a strong theme concerning what “turn the other cheek” really means and we see this lived out through the journey of an 8-year old girl. We follow her path from student in a Catholic elementary school to her kidnapping and induction into one of the rebel groups. She learns to fire a rifle that stands taller than she is. She witnesses death and questions why her group is killing other Eritreans. She eventually escapes to freedom. I enjoyed this film, even if it was made (according to the filmmakers) for children. There were many protestors from Ethiopia outside the screening of this film, which provided more tension and excitement for the event. Eritrea has been in a controversial struggle to establish its independence from Ethiopia.
Restless
An Israeli film shot partly in New York City and partly in Israel, we follow a pugnacious man coming to terms with his lack of success in life, and the wife and child he left behind twenty years before in Israel. The wife has just died and the son, now in the Israeli army, has his own deep hatred of his father to deal with. There are some false moves in the story with the man’s attempt at finding love again, but this film has a nice finish as father and son attempt reconciliation.
Il Ya Longtemps Que Je T’aime… (“I’ve Loved You So Long…”)
This was a wonderful treat. A story that I wished to have written myself. An emotionally honest film that stayed with me longer than any film since “In Love We Trust.” A woman with a heavy soul, just released from a 15-year prison term, is taken in by a sister she barely knows. The woman struggles with society’s efforts to keep her as a prisoner. Even though the concrete walls are gone, others remain. It’s hard to forgive a woman who killed her 6-year old son. But this artfully woven tale allows us a deeper look into her soul as it is revealed that the child had an extremely painful terminal disease. This is a film about family, life, forgiveness, redemption, and rebirth. It’s a weighty film and probably my favorite so far. It also has one of the most perfect endings as the woman replies to someone looking for her – “I’m here.” And indeed she is.
Mafrouza/Couer
This was the worst film of the 35 that I saw as a juror. Set in a slum in Egypt, it was basically a camera that was turned on and only turned off after more than three hours of nothing happening. How this got accepted into this festival I will never know.
