13 May 2025 On the Screen (MD2025/2)

Fribourg (Switzerland) 2025

The Ecumenical Jury, appointed by INTERFILM and SIGNIS, at the 39th Festival international du Film de Fribourg (21-30 March 2025) awarded its Prize of 5’000 CHF, donated by the Church Aid Organisations in Switzerland “Lenten Offering” and “HEKS/EPER/bread for all”, to the film My Friend An Delie directed by Dong Zijian (China, 2024).

Motivation of the Jury: A man is on his way to his father’s funeral in a faraway town. On the way, he meets his childhood friend. The past catches up with them, and traumas and guilt resurface. Dong Zijian’s Chinese road-movie My Friend An Delie is staged with precise images. Among the excellent cast, the little boy who plays An Delie deserves a special mention. This relatively simple story opens up a wide range of existential questions, reflecting on courage and the inability to defend oneself against injustice.

Members of the 2025 Jury: Jean-Claude Boillat, Courrendlin (Switzerland); Bénédicte Cuny, Versailles (France); Christa Miranda, Zürich (Switzerland); Bernd Wolpert, Tübingen (Germany).

Saarbruecken (Germany) 2025

At the 46th Film Festival Max Ophuels Prize held in Saarbruecken 20-26 January 2025, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, endowed with € 2500 by the Katholische Erwachsenenbildung Saarland – Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft e.V. and the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Evangelische Erwachsenenbildung im Saarland e.V., represented by the Evangelische Akademie im Saarland, was awarded to Scham (Shame) directed by Lukas Röder (Germany, 2025).

Motivation: This film is an imposition. It shows the struggle of mother and son for mutual understanding between their own guilt and reproachful accusations. The film oscillates between coldness of feeling and heated arguments over a lack of recognition. With merciless directness, the film puts its finger in the wounds of our society: excessive demands, (sexualised) violence, disappointed life models and biographical entanglements are the breeding ground for this existential conflict, which is as painful as it is versatile. Last but not least, the whole range of human need for redemption is revealed in this courageous, brittle and disturbing film. Like punk …

The film treats the audience as ruthlessly as the characters treat each other: A film that needs to be talked about!

Members of the 2025 Jury: Barbora Cihelková, Czech Republic (President of the Jury) Gerhard Alt, Germany Katja Bury, Switzwerland Anke Jung, Germany.

Berlin (Germany) 2025

At the 75th International Film Festival Berlin, held 13-23 February 2025, the Ecumenical Jury appointed by INTERFILM and SIGNIS, awarded its Prize in the International Competition to O último azul (The Blue Trail) directed by Gabriel Mascaro (Brasil, Mexico, Chile, Netherlands, 2025).

Motivation: This Brazilian dystopic fable (photo sill next page) follows an unlikely hero in a search for freedom. A 77 year-old woman escapes from a future that has been written for her by an authoritarian state. In the beautifully shot fierce landscape of the Amazonas river, her adventure, full of challenges but also unexpected friendships and humour, warns of the dangers of exclusion in our modern societies today and fosters the hope of finding a way out.

In the Panorama, the jury awarded its Prize, endowed with € 2.500 by the Catholic German Bishops’ Conference, to The Heart is a Muscle directed by Imran Hamdulay (South Africa, 2025).

Motivation: Hearts as muscles can be trained. In Imran Hamdulay’s film, a young father from a violent family background, starts with the training. After violently assaulting a man and discovering that the victim also has a son, he learns two things: Forgiveness cannot be bought but only come from mutual understanding. Facing the future needs facing justice as well. With beautiful and realistic cinematography and Afrikaans rap music the director opens the doors to the little-known world and culture of Cape Town outskirts where violence and poverty rub shoulders with friendship, loyalty and love. With some chance to find a gym for hearts.

In the Forum, the Jury awarded its Prize, endowed with € 2.500 by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), to Holding Liat directed by Brandon Kramer (USA, 2025).

Motivation: The film deals with the fate of an Israeli woman who has been abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Without knowing the outcome of the hostage crisis, the filmmakers started a respectful and focused chronicle of a family in anguish. This documentary shows exactly what our time so desperately needs: the willingness to have differentiated conversations and to endure complexities and controversies, without breaking off the discussion.

Members of the 2025 Jury: Peter Ciaccio, Italy (President of the Jury); Brigitta Rotach, Switzerland; Christian Olding, Germany; Stefanie Schardien, Germany; Valérie de Marnhac, France; Juan Carlos Carillo Cal y Mayor, Mexico