Documentary Filmed in Kenya wins Tribeca Film Award
A film titled ‘Wavumba’, set just off the coast of Kenya, has won an award for ‘Best New Documentary Director’ at the 2012 Tribeca Film Awards which were held on Thrusday night last week in New York City, USA.
The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories on teh night of April 26th 2012, at a ceremony hosted at the Conrad New York in New York City. The Festival ran through to last night, April 29, 2012.
The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 18 countries. Best New Director prizes were awarded to a first-time director for both narrative and documentary films, selected from a pool of 24 feature films throughout the program. Awards were also given for the best narrative short, best documentary short and student visionary films in the short film competitions.
This year’s Festival included 89 features and 60 short films from 46 countries, programmed by a team led by Tribeca’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore, new Artistic Director Frederic Boyer, and Director of Programming Genna Terranova.
Also announced at the awards were the Tribeca (Online) Film Festival feature and short film winners selected by the online audience.
“It’s been so gratifying to see the audiences react so positively to the films, and our juries have been equally passionate. I celebrate these immensely talented filmmakers,” said Nancy Schafer, TFF Executive Director.
The jurors for the 2012 Best New Documentary Director Competition were Stuart Blumberg, Jared Cohen, Rachel Grady, Bethann Hardison, Sal Masekela, Ricki Stern, and Olivia Wilde.
The award was ‘Best New Documentary Director’ given to Dutchman Jeroen van Velzen for the title ‘Wavumba’ and for this prize he received $25,000 thanks to American Express.
The brief synopsis of Wavumba is:
Mysticism and color reign in this stunning documentary, steeped in the fishermen lore of Kenya. Dutch filmmaker Jeroen van Velzen explores his visceral memories of an early youth spent in coastal Kenya, where a reverence for the sea reigns high. Via the locals’ enigmatic recitation of a well known folktale, we are introduced to a spirit-filled island, to which a fisherman’s visit has the magic to alternately bless or curse his bounty.
Enter Masoud, a legend of shark fishing, a man who proudly wears his scars and knotted bones as proof of decades spent battling underwater foes. His glory days long gone, Masoud and his stoic grandson take to the seas, the elder fisherman unhappily relegated to the role of castigating mentor, battering his protégée with nagging critique. As he tries to close out his days on the water with one final, spectacular capture, Masoud spins grandiose stories told with swaggering pride and heartbreaking nostalgia.
Still, just as you start to question Masoud’s hold on reality, he confirms his stature with a display of astonishing skill and an intrinsic, almost religious mastery of his craft. An Old Man and the Sea story brought to vivid life, Wavumba enchants with its poignant protagonist and magnificent visuals.
The Tribeca Film Festival has screened more than 1,300 films from more than 80 countries since its first edition in 2002. Since inception, it has attracted an international audience of more than 3.7 million attendees and has generated an estimated $725 million in economic activity for New York City.
Check out the trailer to ‘Wavumba’ below…
