BEST FEATURE 2005
Our Bodies…Their Battleground. Highlights the crisis facing women, girls, and infants throughout the world during conflict, and in its aftermath. With a focus on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, this film gives voice to the victims of rape, and other forms of gender based violence, while challenging the culture of impunity that allows these acts to continue. The film also highlights some of the brave work women are doing to heal the wounds and rebuild the shattered lives of the tens of thousands of females affected by these unpunished violent crimes. 19 min. (VIEW CLIP) Filmmakers: Sylvia Spring, Nicky Chalk (for OCHA – Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
BEST SHORT 2005
Better Future. The focus of this spot is the trafficking in men, women, and children for forced labor, such as in factories or fields, or as domestic servants. It aims to warn potential victims about the dangers and to raise public consciousness of this growing problem. 60 sec. (VIEW) Filmmakers: Melitta Borovansky, Lucie Hrbkova (for UNODC – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD 2005
Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone. UN Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas travels with Abu, a 12-year-old former child soldier trying to find his family, in this harrowing documentary about children forced to fight and kill in Sierra Leone’s savage civil war. Often either the victims or instruments of the most unspeakable atrocities, those who survive emerge physically and emotionally damaged, sometimes irrevocably. (From the What’s Going On? series, winner of the American Library Association Notable Young Adult Video Award.) 28 min. (VIEW CLIP) Filmmaker: Carmel Mulvany (for UNICEF)
