- Jury:
Anna Anders, UDK Berlin
Jan Schuijren, NMA Kurator, Amsterdam
Gabriel Soucheyre, Videoformes
Giesela Rueb, Goethe Institut Paris
- Preisträger
Julia Meltzer & David Thorne, Titel: WE WILL LIVE TO SEE THESE THINGS, OR, FIVE PICTURES OF WHAT MAY COME TO PASS /USA 2007 / Mini DVD / 47:04
Neil Beloufa, Titel: KEMPINSKI / F7Mali 2007 / DVD / 13:58
- Statement of the jury
The ministry for external affairs (Auswärtiges Amt) offers a 2.000 EUR dialogue prize for a work which supports the intercultural dialogue between different cultures and regions of the world.
The jury selected two works. Each of them gets 1.000 €:
1) Neil Beloufa /"Kempinski" / 13:58 min/ 2007
We choose "Kempinski" by Neil Beloufa, who lives in Paris, for the Dialogue Prize because this work questions our expectations and projections of Africa in a very clever way and on a extremely high visual level. The story is set in a small village in Africa. It is night time with little artificial light. The villagers are talking directly into the camera, telling present-time stories of a futuristic, magical world which seems to connect to African culture. It takes some time to realize that it might not be a documentary that we're confronted with, and slowly but surely you begin to wonder about the surrealistic elements they speak so naturally about being married to a cow, telepathy and teleportation, spaceships. Irritation and fascination alternate continuously, culminating in the neon sign of Hotel Kempinski.
2) Julia Meltzer & David Thorne / "We Will Live to See These Things, or, Five Pictures of What May Come to Pass"/ 47:04 min / 2007
"We Will Live to See These Things, or, Five Pictures of What May Come to Pass" is a political and yet poetic documentary in five parts, each stylistically autonomous and concise. The video delivers a kaleidoscopic and subtle portrait of Syria, opening up possible futures. In a very elaborate but simple visual language the work offers a different perspective on a place where people live between the competing forces of a repressive regime, a growing conservative Islamic movement, and intense pressure of the United States. The two American artists provide information without making fixed statements. The essayistic approach evokes an active and engaged reading of the work, turning a highly complex situation into a very accessable one, allowing the viewer to draw his own conclusions.