“WHEN HARMATTAN BLOWS” TRIUMPHS AT BELGIAN FESTIVAL
Edyta Wróblewska’s latest documentary has won the top prize at the Millennium Festival in Brussels.
The Millennium Festival, founded in 2009 by filmmakers Zlatina Rousseva and Lubomir Gueorguiev – with support from the UN’s Antonio Vigilante – champions the belief that documentary cinema possesses the unique power of dismantling barriers, forging connections, and inspiring audiences toward building a better future. Therefore, its programme is rich with politically charged and socially engaged films that often encourage action.
The protagonist of Edyta Wróblewska’s award-winning film is Barbara, a 25-year-old woman living in Accra. At the age of eight, she became one of the countless Ghanaian children sent into forced labour by their own parents. For years, day after day, she endured a world riddled with abuse, violence, and fear. She survived through the intervention of her eldest brother and a family friend, Father Piotr. Despite her trauma, Barbara later continued to provide financial support for her entire family. Yet as their demands begin to grow, she and her brother decide to return home – journey that becomes an opportunity to confront her parents with questions she has carried all her life.
A full list of this year’s awarded films is available here.