Because it portraits with craftsmanship and excellent filmmaking skills, a pressing and relevant issue that affects and kills hundreds of thousands of women, men and children every year.
The empowerment of people and women, through different medicinal techniques, as opposed to occidental, capitalistic and multinational medicine corporations, takes place in this film, shedding light on how this alternative methods are a key for autonomy of health resources, science and land sovereignty.
This films aims to show the attempts to break the chains on several levels of oppression, colonization and economic violence.
For these reasons the BIFED 2020 Fethi Kayaalp Grand Award goes to, “The Fever” by Katharina Weingartner.
Despite the fact that the story of this movie is the personal experience of Swiss director Christian Labhart, the film leaves to audience to create their own intimate experience. And what is a film if it does not awake a strong emotion, which triggers or creates passion that strives for change. On the edge of a pretentious and yet with a much moderate approach to this topic, the director skillfully connects complex historical, philosophical, ecological and political segments of the modern world in 20 and 21st century. All this is sublimated in the harsh and inevitable reality of ruthless capitalism that creates a bitter feeling immanent to all of us who watch this masterpiece of contemporary European cinematography.
Through this film, we could see the gradual destruction of the ideals of freedom, according to clearly defined stages in life of an “ordinary man”, in this case in a life of the director of the film. What remains for us today is the same struggle as before, but the last struggle, for ultimate survival. Destroyed nature and biodiversity by unscrupulous use of its resources by humans, accompanied by serious economic and social influences, is a kind of reminder that difficult times must become a unique opportunity for positive change and essential transformation of our world. It is today, more than ever before, great responsibility and obligation for all of us to come together and fulfill the lost dreams of past generations and ensure a fairer and greener world for generations to come. For these, the jury awards BIFED 2020’s Second Place Prize to “Passion – Between Revolt and Resignation” by Christian Labhart.
The jury commends this film for its exposition of the vital work of environmental journalists worldwide and the serious threats that they face, sometimes paying with their own lives. This film is a important media collaboration to finish the work of these journalists and to put the horrors of the mining industry in the spotlight. For this courageous investigative piece, the jury awards BIFED 2020’s Third Place Prize to “Green Blood” by Arthur Bouvart, Jules Giraudat & Alexis Marant.