AHMED ATTIA'S AWARD

The documentary “Chou Sar” winner of the III Ahmed Attia's award for the Dialogue of Cultures.

MEDIMED 2009, the Euro-Mediterranean Documentary Market, hosted the ceremony of the “III Ahmed Attia's Award for the Dialogue of Cultures”, given to the documentary “Chou Sar” directed by De Gaulle Eid (Grenade Productions, (France), 2006).The result of the Jury selection was announced Sunday, 11 at a private ceremony that took place after the end of the pitching sessions. Mr. Mohamed Habib Attia, son of the APIMED’s former President, Ahmed Attia, gave the award on behalf of all members of the jury.

Courtesy of APIMED, the producers received a 1.000 euros cash prize, awarded for the best documentary pitched in previous editions of MEDIMED. A jury comprised by experienced producers and veteran filmmakers, members of the APIMED Board of Directors, selected the winning film out of 12 nominees: DRAGONSLAYERS (Austria), WHERE IS THE WALL (Germany), A TOPOGRAPHY OF MEMORY (Spain), ELIOT NESS VS. AL CAPONE (France), A RICH MAN IN KATMANDU (Iceland), EGYPT IN THE EYES OF MAIR (Egypt), THE FOUR SEASONS OF TOTO & SIMON (Tunisia), CHILDREN OF THE BIBLE (Israel), NOLLYWOOD MADE IN NIGERIA (France), THE DAMNED OF THE SEA (Belgium), SENTENCED TO MARRIAGE (Israel), CHOU SAR (France).

“Chou Sar”:On December 9, 1980, at Edbel, in northern Lebanon, De Gaulle EID, filmmaker, witnessed the massacre of his parents and his youngest sister, gunned down before his eyes. He was eight years old. Since then, he’s never stopped asking the same question that confronts all victims of atrocities: What really happened? Through a series of testimonies, the film retraces the story of this massacre. Beyond this, it asks the question of what it means to reconstruct one’s very self, of what possible heritage remains to be transmitted to the next generation. In a word - the question of the future. What does it mean to come from a family where murder and madness caused a painful uprooting and a rift with the past? What is the future of a country left so ravaged by war? An extraordinary collective portrait of a family will recount what hundreds of Lebanese families are going through today, men and women still attached to the dream of the Lebanon of tomorrow. 

The Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Producers of the Mediterranean (APIMED) decided to create this award in order to pay tribute to our dear president and friend, the Tunisian producer Ahmed Attia, who sadly passed away in 2007.

III AHMED ATTIA’S AWARD FOR THE DIALOGUE OF CULTURES SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Dima Al Joundi, Producer, CRYSTAL FILMS, Lebanon
Pierre Watrin, Buyer, FRANCE Ô, France
Víctor Carrera, International Relations Chief TVC, Spain
Mohamed Habib Attia, Producer, CINETELEFILMS, Tunis
Mohamed Charbagi, Producer, ALIF PRODUCTIONS, France