“THE QUEEN OF SILENCE” AND “SOMETHING BETTER TO COME” NOMINATED FOR EDA AWARDS
The documentary films “The Queen of Silence” by Agnieszka Zwiefka and “Something better to come” by Hanna Polak are nominated for EDA Awards for Best Female-Directed Documentary, granted by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. The awards will be presented in Amsterdam, during the IDFA festival.
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) is a non-profit organisation, operating in the USA, which unites film journalists, reporters and film critics from the USA, Canada and Great Britain. Its aim is to support films about women and/or made by women. Since 2012, the society gives the EDA awards for the best films directed by women or about women. The awards, named so to honour the American theatre and television actress - Eda Reiss Merin, are given during the annual gala in the USA and at partnering festivals.
This year, the EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary will be presented on 26 November, during the IDFA festival. The nominees include five feature-length documentaries, participating in the competitive sections at IDFA, and among them are two films by Polish directors: “The Queen of Silence” by Agnieszka Zwiefka and “Something better to come” by Hanna Polak. Their competitors are: "My Beautiful Broken Brain" by Sophie Robinson (UK), "Tea Time" Maite Alberdi (Chile) I "Unearthed" Jolynn Minnaar (South Africa/Nigeria/USA).
The protagonist of the film by Agnieszka Zwiefka is 10-year-old deaf Denisa - a girl from an illegal gypsy settlement. Denisa has never been to school, she can neither read nor write, she lives in an extremely difficult conditions, without running water and electricity. What is more, she is laughed at by her peers, who call her simply “the deaf one” or “the silly one,” rarely using her name. However, Denisa lives in her own world, and since she found a box with Bollywood films in the rubbish, she expresses her emotions by dancing.
“Something better to come” is set on the svalka - the largest garbage dump in Europe, over 2 kilometres long and as high as a skyscraper. It is an area surrounded by a wall, and no one can go inside. However, there are people who live on the garbage dump, the poorest social class, deprived of all chances to make a living. One of these people is Yula, whom we meet as an 11-year-old girl and then we watch how her life unfolds during the next 10 years.
The best film will be chosen by the jury, consisting of: Jennifer Merin – the jury’s chairperson (Cinema Citizen Blog in NY), Leba Hertz (San Francisco Chronicle), Katherine McLaughlin (The Arts Desk in London), Wendy Mitchell (Screen International, London), Dorothy Woodend (The Tyree in Vancouver) and Susan Wloszczyna (RogerEert.com, Washington, DC).
You can find more information on AWFJ’s website.