Cronograf International Documentary Film Festival, held in Moldova, nominates winners

Chisinau, 29 May /MOLDPRES/ - The 15th issue of the Cronograf International Documentary Film Festival, held in Chisinau on 22-28 May, ended at the Odeon Culture Centre on 28 May evening with a ceremony of awarding the prizes.      
The Grand Prize and Trophy of Cronograf were awarded to the film, Women with Gunpowder Ear Rings, directed by Reza Farahmand from Iran. This prize, worth 2,500 euros, was provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. According to the jury members, this is a courageous and sensible film, about a war regarded from a viewpoint which has not been seen so far. “In this film, we see how men unleash wars and understand how women make peace,” the jury members from the Principal Section have said.    
The winners of the edition at all the five sections of the competition were nominated at the festival’s closing gala: Principal Section/Full-Length and Short-Reel Films, CadRO Section, Local Productions Section, Section Keeping an Eye on Moldova and the Section One Like for a Documentary. The following prizes were offered at the Principal Section/Full-Length Films: the Prize for Film Direction worth 1,000 euros was provided to the documentary Timebox, directed by Nora Agapi from Romania. The prize for Picture was offered to the same documentary, Timebox, where image is signed by Nora Agapi, Romania. The prize was provided by Moldcinema. The jury’s special prize went to the documentary, My Unknown Soldier, directed by Ana Kryvenko (The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia) and was the contribution of TV5MONDE. The prize, Public’s Liking, was nominated following the counting of the votes of the audience and was offered to the documentary Women with Gunpowder Ear Rings by Reza Farahmand from Iran.     
At the Principal Section/Short-reel Films, the prize for the best documentary short-reel film was offered to the film Roosenberg, directed by Ingel Vaikla (Belgium) for the sensible and deep way she builds an essay poem, a combination between cinematographic aesthetics, philosophic approach and emotional search, for the courage to experiment with the visual language and create a meditation about the soul of space and passing of the time. The prize was offered by OWH Studio.   
The Prize I and the Trophy at the Local Productions Section were awarded to the documentary, The Toltres of Prut and the Stone Pits, directed by Victor Galusca. The jury appreciated the importance of the subject brought to attention, using with mastership the instruments of the documentary film. The Prize II went to the film, Lost between Words, by Vera Belocras, for the courage to be different in a society framed by limits, sometime anti-human ones, and the Prize III was offered to the production, Dnistrovska, directed by Andrei Moraru, for a film showing us how nice the Dniester river is and how barbarian are we with this river.   
At the CadRo Section, the Prize I and the Trophy were awarded to the documentary, Licu , A Romanian Story, directed by Ana Dumitrescu, Romania, for a film which, through the harmony of montage, music and archive material, transposed us into the world of Licu. The prize was provided by the Romanian Filmmakers Union. The Prize II was awarded to the documentary, Good and Kind, directed by Florin Andreescu, Romania. The prize, in the memory of cinema man Victor Bucataru, was awarded by his son, Sorin Bucataru. The Prize II at the CadRo Section was offered to the documentary, When Boats Turned into Barbed Wire, directed by Gabriela Baiardi, Romania.     
At the Section Keeping an Eye on Moldova, the prizes were offered by the Akzente German Culture Centre, worth 10,000 lei: the Prize Keeping an Eye on Moldova was awarded to the film, Moldovan Miracle, directed by Stian Indervoll. The prize was provided for the complex way the film director builds the story of foundation, in Chisinau, of a centre for persons with serious sight deficiencies, most of them children, by a Norwegian optometrist, Hans Bjorn Bakketeig. The prize of the Section One Like for a Documentary was offered to the documentary, The Second-hand Bookshop, directed by Mihai Nichiforeac, Moldova.        
The Cronograf International Documentary Film Festival 2019 was organized by OWH Studio, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, National Cinematography Centre of Moldova, Education, Culture and Research Ministry, Ministry for Romanians Abroad, Chisinau City Hall, TV5MONDE, Akzente German Culture Centre and other partners. The first issue of the festival was held in 2001.