Here are four films of the Feature Length Documentary Films Competition “IMAGE OF THE WORLD - WORLD IN IMAGES" under the patronage of DISCOVERY NETWORKS CEEMEA! The rest of the competition's line-up will be announced shortly.



Agnus Dei: Lamb of God

Following a young man tracking the priest who molested him as a child, Alejandra Sánchez not only tells about the need of revealing each and every perversion hidden under the cassock, but also about the modern times, distorted by the lack of authority, moral debauchery and the overwhelming agitation connected with the impotence of faith. On the one hand, Sánchez deals blows at hypocrisy of clergymen, some of whom evidently live in a world of their own. On the other, though, the director makes the viewers aware of the amount of sacrifice, renunciation and hesitation that the persons who want to have a closer connection with God have to endure, while living in the culture that has eroticized most of the manifestations of human existence.

"Agnus Dei: Lamb of God"
Sánchez juxtaposes the statements declaring the existence of God with the fragments displaying human frailty, though it was the cinematographers Pablo Ramírez Durón and Erika Licea who made “Agnus Dei: Lamb of God" a universal documentary. The visual side is about contrasting the quasi-mystical atmosphere of hand-built churches with the mysticism and mosaic beauty of the nature. The moments of quiet reflection are being emphasized on the camera through underlining the secularity of increasingly anonymous large city, however the cinematographers hit the bull's eye when they visualize the narrative concepts through silent and meaningful images. Gleams of light oozing through leafage of trees, or the shots of pale-blue sky being a symbol of something the humans could never reach.

Original title: Agnus Dei: Cordero de Dios
Polish title: Baranek Boży
Directed by: Alejandra Sánchez
Cinematography: Pablo Ramírez Durón, Erika Licea

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Life, a long way away

Stone walls, cobbled streets, narrow passes between homesteads - this is not a staging of the medieval times, but the everyday reality of Barroso, a small town in the north of Portugal, forgotten by time, that Marc Weymuller has chosen to be a silent character of his documentary. By observing Barroso and its inhabitants, including an acclaimed poet, the director spreads the vision of life marked by the changing of seasons and the everlasting calmness. “Life, a long way away" is a film about stillness, about a sluggish reality reminiscing of a fog shrouding the morning hills, though Weymuller has also achieved something different and truly remarkable. His documentary “sounds" like a saudade, a typically Portuguese feeling of melancholic thinking about the past, marked - paradoxically - both by the sadness of passing time, and the joy of existence.

"Life, a long way away"
The reality of living in Barroso has been captured by cinematographer Xavier Arpino in a truly poetic way. Harsh, but overwhelmingly beautiful vistas are linked with slow movement of camera recording the city's atmosphere, and the everyday life of the people is accompanied by lyrical images like that of a snow setting strenuously on the tree branches of one of the households. Arpino touches the viewers' emotions through filming closely the black&white photographs of people who passed away; he uses different color shades and lighting, he contrasts the winter scenes with shots of flames crackling in cozy fireplaces, thus engaging the viewer in the way reflecting the film's most important themes.

Original title: La vie au loin
Directed by: Marc Weymuller
Cinematography: Xavier Arpino

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How to Die in Oregon

In 1994 the American state of Oregon became one of rare places in the world in which an ailing person has the legal right to have a physician-aided death. In Peter D. Richardson's documentary the debate on morality of such actions becomes heated once again. The American filmmaker catches on camera political and social themes, however he mostly tries to focus on the stories of people who made this kind of difficult decision. He records oral statements of persons who due to lethal diseases have lost the command over their bodies, the opinions of people who in their final moments just want to have the control over their lives, and also a story of a woman who had been in peace with her imminent fate, but who outlived her cancer by many years. “How to Die in Oregon" is not a film about death, though, but about the beauty of life.

"How to Die in Oregon"
Richardson, who was also the cinematographer of “How to Die in Oregon", decided to make the visuals more dynamic to deliver the unremitting joy of life of most of the documentary's characters. The camera often films them in motion, hustling with energy in the kitchen or during strolls and meetings outside the isolation of their homes. The people in front of the camera look vivid and honest, this second quality being obvious on their faces, filmed by Richardson in close-ups, but not aggressively. Nevertheless, the director/cinematographer is not afraid to show true suffering; he stays with his camera during the hesitation of the main characters, and the difficult conversations between them and their physicians. From the bits and pieces of various human lives Richardson has created a poignant mosaic of a man's desires, hopes and dreams. No one shall remain not moved.

Original title: How to Die in Oregon
Directed by: Peter D. Richardson
Cinematography: Peter D. Richardson

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Phnom Penh Lullaby

In his documentary Paweł Kloc presents Cambodia's capital city as it was rarely seen before in the dark cinema room or in front of a TV screen. Phnom Penh that he displays with his camera does not have anything in common with the vision of South-East Asia promoted in Hollywood films, lest in terms of red districts in which one can buy a “romantic" adventure. Although Phnom Penh is only a background for the story of an Israeli man named Ilan who tries to seize happiness in the reality consisting in of quite different attitude towards living; who fights for his love to a woman who cannot accept the way he is. Despite all the obstacles, Paweł Kloc's hero shall never give up.

"Phnom Penh Lullaby"
“Some are born to sweet delight / Some are born to endless night" - the words of poet William Blake perfectly describe what was captured on the camera by the cinematographer of “Phnom Penh Lullaby", Przemysław Niczyporuk. On the one hand, he presents the viewer with different appearances of Cambodian reality, from the night life of a big city that never sleeps to manifestations of its nature (characters' silhouettes fit perfectly into the red sky burning from the setting sun). By filming the people from below Niczyporuk aims at finding representations of their ambitions and dreams that are confronted everyday with the harshness of reality. Then again, by following their mundane lives the cinematographer contrasts them with the culture and its traditions that are responsible for most of misunderstandings. “Phnom Penh Lullaby" is thus an educational documentary, both in terms of the plot and the cinematography.

Polish title: Kołysanka z Phnom Penh
Directed by: Paweł Kloc
Cinematography: Przemysław Niczyporuk



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The Feature Length Documentary Films Competition "IMAGE OF THE WORLD - WORLD IN IMAGES" is organized for the fourth time, under the patronage of DISCOVERY NETWORKS CEEMEA.

The aim of the competition is to appreciate documentary films as a creative interpretation of reality. The jury focuses on the visual and aesthetical part of a movie and judges the achievements in the area of film images, awarding best cinematographers among those selected to the competition.