'FIGHTING DEMONS WITH DRAGONS' WINS YOUTH JURY AWARD IN LÜBECK

This weekend Camilla Magid’s documentary film Fighting Demons with Dragons won the Youth Jury Award at the Nordic Film Days festival in Lübeck.

We are so honored that the jury chose the film, here is their statement: "Through out the week, we watched 9 different movies. Many of them effected us emotionally and it was a hard decision to choose the best one. But after long considerations, we decided to hand the award to a movie, which is about finding yourself, your safe space and people that you trust and make you feel comfortable around them. We hope that the movie reaches as many people as possible to show the importance of the topic."

Click here to read all the jury statement and to find out more about the festival

Fighting Demons with Dragons premiered as a TV series in primetime on national television, DR1 , in March 2024 and received wonderful reviews and reactions. The feature version of the film premiered at Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, where it won the Silver Alexander for Best Debut.

Fighting Demons with Dragons is both a 4 part TV series, a 52 min TV version, and a 90 min feature film, and Cinephil is international sales agent.

'FIGHTING DEMONS WITH DRAGONS' WINS GOLDEN ALEXANDER IN THESSALONIKI

Last week 's wonderful new doc FIGHTING DEMONS WITH DRAGONS took home the Silver Alexander in the Newcomers Competition at Thessaloniki Int. Documentary Film Festival, where it celebrated its world premiere - we are so delighted and can't wait for the film to meet even more lovely audiences all over the world!

Here is the jury's statement: "We would like to award a director for taking the hard challenge of telling a multi character story, creating with tenderness a both emotional and complex universe of teenagers in such a fragile turning point of their lives. With the talent and skills of a documentarian she is voicing from a very intimate perspective her protagonists with empathy and respect."

You can see the full list of award winners here.

'FIGHTING DEMONS WITH DRAGONS' AT THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL

This weekend the documentary ‘Fighting Demons with Dragons’ by Camilla Magid has been shown at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival as a part of the Newcomers International Competition. 

‘Fighting Demons with Dragons’ is a coming-of-age documentary about feeling excluded - and for the first time finding a community.

Congratulations to Director Camilla Magid and Producer Heidi Elise Christensen who was in Greece for the International premiere. 

Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival runs until March 17th 2024. 

If you are in Denmark the documentary series can be streamed on DRTV.

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING AT DRTV

We are happy to announce that a selection of films produced by Final Cut for Real are now available for screening at DRTV. The films are listed below and accompanied by a link to DR’s website. Enjoy!

Content on DRTV can only be accessed in Denmark.

The Distant Barking of Dogs

The Distant Barking of Dogs is director Simon Lereng Wilmont's first feature. It is set in Eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the war. The film follows the life of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy Oleg throughout a year, witnessing the gradual erosion of his innocence beneath the pressures of war. Through Oleg’s perspective, the film examines what it means to grow up in a war zone. It portrays how a child’s universal struggle to discover what the world is about grows interlaced with all the dangers and challenges the war presents.

The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer's Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing, explores the massive genocide that took place in Indonesia in the 1960s from the perspective of the perpetrators. The government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965, and more than a million people - communists, people of Chinese descent and intellectuals were executed. The movie is set in the city Medan on the island Sumatra. Here the filmmakers challenge the death squad leaders to dramatize how they participated in the genocide. The result is a surreal cinematic journey into the mass murderers ideas and fantasies about themselves and their victims. Simultaneously the movie presents us to a frightening and extremely corrupt regime, where the murderers have faced no judgement but instead are celebrated as heroes.

The Look of Silence

The Look of Silence, is a companion piece to The Act of Killing, The film follows a young optometrist as he attempts to bring the past into focus. The family discovers how their son was murdered during the Indonesian genocide - as well as the identity of the men who murdered him. The film documents the confrontation in the absence of any truth and reconciliation process, while the murderers remain in power.

Pervert Park

Pervert Park by Frida and Lasse Barkfors, is a film about the people no one wants as a neighbour. It follows the every day life of the sex offenders in a Florida trailer park as they struggle to reintegrate into society, and gives us a chance to understand who they are and how the destructive cycle of sexual abuse and silence can be broken.

Death of a Child

Death of a Child is Frida and Lasse Barkfors’ second film in a trilogy exploring social stigma. Pervert Park was the first. It is an exploration of the lives of parents who have caused their own children’s deaths. The film encompasses many different situations in life where tragedy hits and where someone is at fault, because of mistakes, accidents, neglect or mental illness. There is however something with what these parents have done that seem to trigger a specific social rage and condemnation. Because what kind of parent forgets a baby in a car?

Land of the Free

Land of the Free, directed by Camilla Magid, is a moving portrayal of life after prison in the US. In South Central, Los Angeles, we follow Brian, a 42-year-old man, just released after having spent his whole adult life in prison. On his own, he must adapt to a modernised and changed society. He has to tackle the challenges of the Internet, getting a driver's license, and finding love. The film tackles hard hitting cultural issues and works to show the humanity in a deeply troubling environment where the prison industrial system often targets and holds back people of color.

Håbet bag hegnet / Les Sauteurs

Les Sauteurs, a film directed by Estephan Wagner and Moritz Siebert in collaboration with the film's protagonist Abou Bakar Sidibé, is ultimately a film about making a film. It is Abou's portrayal of the human struggle for dignity and freedom on one of the World's most militarised frontiers. In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the land border, a fence system separating Morocco and Spain. Abou from Mali is one of them - the protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it. For over a year, he has ceaselessly persisted in attempting to jump the fence.