Last week at the 2020 Lucas International Festival for Young Film Lovers in Germany, the Cinema Without Borders jury announced the winners of the GoE Bridging The Borders Award, as well as their Honorable Mention .
The LUCAS Festival’s award ceremony was one of the rare cinematic events that was held in the presence of a small number of audience members during the Covid-19 Pandemic era.
Yeganeh Taheri, Cinema Without Borders’ representative in Germany, read the GoE Bridging The Borders Award jury statement announcing the jury’s Honorable Mention recipient. “The seven nominees were all interesting films. One standout story is about a young boy who is a child healer in an Australian Aboriginal group, the Arrernte. Dujuan shares his astounding insight into the mythology and spirituality of his culture. Yet, the alien Western education he receives fails to serve him and attempts to restrict his spirited nature with perilous results. The honorable mention goes to the film In My Blood It Runs by Australian Director Maya Newell.”
Here is the video report of the GoE Bridging the Borders Award announcement at the LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers:
Adam Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer of Go Energistics–the sponsor of the GoE Bridging The Borders Award–announced the winners in a video message: “I’m excited to announce that for the first time in the 14-year history of the Bridging The Borders Award, we have a tie for the winning film. Through each film we see the yearning to humanize the lived experiences of immigrants at the margins, their universal story and the often untold realities of struggle, resilience, and human redemption that defines their lives and never fails in piercing through to the hearts of audiences across borders, near and far. Therefore, we proudly announce two films, Los Lobos , directed by Samuel Kishi & Antigone directed by Sophie Deraspe , as our winners of the 2020 GoE Bridging the Borders Award at Germany’s LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers.”
. GoE Bridging The Borders Award Jury members were:
Keely Badgers is Executive Director of MOZAIK, a new millennial-led philanthropic organization committed to exploring and modeling new practices in philanthropy with disruptive, creative, and catalytic potential. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Keely leads the foundation’s strategic grantmaking, programs and community engagements, working with a range of nonprofit organizations in the local, national and international advocacy space.
As a millennial expert and advocate on international human rights and development issues,
Keely pioneers’ durable solutions for underrepresented voices, communities and causes by working to democratize philanthropy through participatory grantmaking praxis.
Massoud BAKHSHI was born in Tehran,Iran,and earned his diploma in photography and filmmaking (IYCS Iranian Young Cinema Society) and his BS in Agronomy engineering (Azad University)
He later studied filmmaking in Italy( NUCT Rome 2000) and the culture financing in France (Dauphine University Paris 2006)
He has worked as a film critic, producer and screenwriter, before making his first documentary films and series in 1997.
Filmography(selected): Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! 2006 feature Doc( selected in more than 100 Int’l film festivals and winner of 10 best film and best director prizes)- BAG DAD BAR BER 2008 short fiction( premiered at Locarno FF leopards of tomorrow, winner of best film in Tampere FF). Our Persian Rug 2010 Documentary, nominated for best mid length documentary at IDFA and magic hour award in Poland. A Respectable Family 2012 Feature, Cannes Film Festival Camera d’or contender; winner of black pearl award in Abudhabi film festival. YALDA a night for forgiveness Feature, 2020 Sundance FF winner of grand jury prize, Berlinale 2020 nominated for Gerneration’s silver bear, Best script award in Sofia FF 2020
Daria Mashouf is Director of Development for MOZAIK, a new millennial led philanthropic organization committed to exploring and modeling new practices in philanthropy with disruptive, creative and catalytic potential.
Based in Los Angeles, CA, Daria is focused on aligning the foundation’s portfolio with its mission and bringing a newfound commitment to Socially Responsible Investing through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as universal human rights. He bases the foundation of his efforts and guiding principles on promoting social and environmental justice through the arts.
Farah Nabulsi, is a Palestinian-British filmmaker. She left the corporate world in 2016 to start working in the Palestinian film industry as a writer & producer of short fiction films, exploring Palestine related topics that matter to her. This includes Today They Took My Son, endorsed by renowned Director Ken Loach, screened at the United Nations and officially selected to top international film festivals.
Her latest short film The Present, which stars renowned actor Saleh Bakri and qualified for the 2021 Oscars, sheds light on how Palestinians are deprived of the basic right to freedom of movement. It won the Audience Award for Best Film at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020 (world premiere), the Jury Award for Best Live Action Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival (North American premiere), the Audience Award at the Brooklyn Film Festival and, at Palm Springs International ShortFest, it won the GoE Bridging The Borders Award and Audience Pick.
Adam Shepherd
Adam Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer of Go Energistics (GoE), has been a champion for social awareness and strong supporter of numerous non-profit organizations dedicated to healing. As the founder of (GoE) a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Adam is devoted to serving the men and women of our Nation’s military, Veterans, and their families by supporting the health care systems that serve them.
Adam not only witnessed but experienced first-hand, how people all over the world are eager to connect beyond their borders and despite their [perceived]differences. Continually moved by the spirit of people, Adam actively seeks out opportunities to encourage and enact positive social awareness and change.
Adam’s appreciation for the arts, especially cinema and its power to globally unite people, drives him to serve a higher purpose that goes beyond traditional borders. Adam’s philosophy and core belief that each of us can have a positive impact in our world are echoed through GoE’s sponsorship of the Bridging the Borders Award; which recognizes and highlights those who are most successful in bringing people of our world closer together through film.
Yeganeh Taheri
Yeganeh Taheri, a graduated as a film editor from School of Television and Cinema in 1980 and left Iran for Germany in 1989 where she started her career as a stage actress. Yeganeh’s first performance on stage was with Farhad Majedabadi in A House in a suitcase. This was followed by a few puppet shows for kids in TV with Nargess Vafadar (The stories of Ghandi and his Mother & Jewel Box) and two other acting performance directed by Nilufar Beyzaee (Marjan, Mani and a few small problems & Face to face at the threshold of the cold season).
Yeganeh Taheri approached photography starting a decade ago and her photos shows her keen eyes for picking interesting subjects and compositions. She has covered many different subjects in her photos, including photos from theater performances.
Yeganeh Taheri still lives in Germany and beside photography spends her time on translation of children stories between two languages of Farsi and German.
Bijan Tehrani
Bijan Tehrani a film director, film critic and writer, works as Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders while teaching Language & History of film workshops and organizes film screening events and festivals. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children’s books.
For the tenth anniversary of Cinema Without Borders, Bijan has received Ambassador of International Cinema Award from South east European Film Festival, Friend of the Festival Award from Polish Film Festival, LA and Gateway to International Cinema Award from Hungarian Film festival. Bijan Tehrani is recently working on a book of his memoir from Cinema in Iran and a docufiction based on 19th century photographs by Sevruguin, the Russian photographer.
GoE Bridging The Borders Award Winners:
Antigone – A straight-A student and model citizen, Antigone oversteps the law when she helps her brother escape from prison. The vice-grip tightens around her as she stands up to authorities: the police, the law, the penal system, and the father of her friend Haemon.
Antigone’s refusal to compromise her personal sense of justice wins the support of her peers, who mobilize on social networks and at colorful protests. Rejecting the offer meant to secure her future, Antigone instead chooses love and loyalty to her immigrant family
Los Lobos: In search of a better life, Max and Leo are taken by their mother, Lucia from Mexico to Albuquerque in the United States. While waiting for her to return from work, the kids listen to tales, rules of conduct and English lessons recorded by Lucia on an old tape recorder. They also build an imaginary universe with their drawings and dream about mom’s promise of going to Disneyland. The director
draws upon his own childhood experiences and tells an emigration story of current explosiveness.
GoE Bridging The Borders Award Honorable Mention:
In my blood it runs – Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police.
As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self