How to Save A Dead Friend wins at RAI Film Festival 2023

Filmmakers and festival guests attended a public RAI Film Festival 2023 live-stream Awards Ceremony last night (27 March) where the winners of the competitive strands were announced. The event was hosted by festival co-directors, Caterina Sartori and Stephen Hughes, who were joined by the respective award category judges who announced each of the seven winners, as well as commendations.

The main RAI Film Prize was awarded to Moscow-born Marusya Syroechkovskaya’s How to Save A Dead Friend. Judge Tanja Wol described the documentary as “a raw and honest depiction of love and addiction. Filmed with small camcorders over many years, it is a stunning long-term capture of the pressure and pointlessness of adolescence and young adulthood in contemporary Russia”. Ten main competition titles also competed for the Basil Wright Film Prize, which is awarded to the documentary that best represents the poetic film form. This was given to Carolina Arias Ortiz’s Rebel Objects, on the mysterious Costa Rican stone spheres and filmed in black and white. This was cited by judge Elizabeth Povinelli as a “truly captivating film” that introduces a “magnificent new visual syntax”.

The winner of the Audience Award sponsored by SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine is Once Upon a Village, directed by Srishti Lakhera. The film on two women struggling with the choice of leaving their Himalayan village for an alienating city life has been a popular streaming choice during the online festival.

The Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology was awarded to The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters by Catalina Tesar and Dana Bunescu, a film that invites the viewer to reflect on the resilience of women in a ‘son-preferred’ male dominated society. It was applauded for its tenacious camera work, as well as its humanistic and emphatic approach.

The RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize (The Marsh Foundation), a highly competitive category of twenty titles, was given to Sofia Bensadon’s Gambote, which gives a unique focus on the material culture of brick-making in Bolivia. The judges applauded the film for its deft cinematic skills and easy and deep access into the working relationship of those in skilled, repetitive work.

The ethnomusicology film award in partnership with BFE (British Forum for Ethnomusicology) celebrates the most outstanding film of music and sound in the world. This was awarded to La Tumba Mambi, the result of a long-term collaboration between Canadian anthropologist Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier and Cuban DJ Jigüe, on the members of a traditional cultural group located in Santiago de Cuba. The judges commented that “the aesthetic beauty of the film is breathtaking”.

The Future of Work took the Wiley Blackwell Student Prize, which is awarded to the best student film made in the tradition of ethnographic filmmaking. Yihao Yan’s film was described by the judges as “a timely portrait”, and “a window into a growing phenomenon and sub-culture of digital nomads”.

Organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, The RAI Film Festival gathers storytellers from all around the world, who use film to shine a light on the people and places too often overlooked in the spotlight of global media.

The 2023 festival launched online worldwide on March 3 and continues until 31 March, offering a programme of over eighty domestic and international documentary films. An in-person festival of screenings, filmmaker events, workshops and an XR (extended reality) experience took place in Bristol UK, from 22 – 25 March.

Previously announced, the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the distinguished and prolific filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin. The President’s Award was given to influential filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha for What About China?

–

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Honours:

Lifetime Achievement Award

ALANIS OBOMSAWIN

The President’s Award

TRINH T. MINH-HA FOR WHAT ABOUT CHINA?

Competitive strand winners:

RAI Film Prize

HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND

Dir. Marusya Syroechkovskaya

The Basil Wright Film Prize

REBEL OBJECTS

Dir. Carolina Arias Ortiz

SAPIENS Audience Award

ONCE UPON A VILLAGE

Dir. Srishti Lakhera

Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology

THE CHALICE. OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS

Dirs. Catalina Tesar and Dana Bunescu

RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize

GAMBOTE

Dir. Sofia Bensadon

Ethnomusicology Film Award

LA TUMBA MAMBI

Dirs. Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier and DJ Jigüe

Wiley Blackwell Student Film Prize

THE FUTURE OF WORK

Dir. Yihao Yan

Competitive strand commendations:

RAI Film Prize

LITTLE PALESTINE, DIARY OF A SIEGE

Dir. Abdallah Al-Khatib

The Basil Wright Film Prize

THE PRISON PROMISE

Dir. Joseph Dégramon Ndjom

Werbner Award for Visual Anthropology

ALL GOD’S CHILDREN

Dirs. Robert Lemelson and Chisako Yokoyama Adair

RAI & Marsh Short Film Prize (Two commendations)

WHEN THE SEA SENDS FORTH A FOREST

Dir. Guangli Liu

YOU CAN’T SHOW MY FACE

Dir. Knutte Wester

Ethnomusicology Film Award

THE SOIL

Dir. Zuzanna Solakiewicz

Wiley Blackwell Student Film Prize (Two commendations)

A FAMILY PORTRAIT

Dir. Shubham Sharma

TEN BY TEN

Dir. Jami L. Bennett