01-01-2024, 09:25 PM
Film Title: Harvest Moon (Lune de récolte) (قمر الحصاد)
Nominating Nation: Kolda
Nomination Category/Categories: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design
Language: French (Dubbed into Arabic, English, and Kango)
Run Time: 2 hr 38 min
Director: Paul Soumanou Basa
Producing Studio/Company: Rivière Verte Productions
Cast:
Ousmane Toure as Jermain Barro
Sokhna Bousso as The Scribe
Anouk Fèvre as Madame Victorine Charbonneau
Brief Summary
The film begins in a small village, the people are aliens who have over time evolved from humans, three small bumps on their foreheads distinguish them but besides that are almost identical to humans. The people known as the Yanara have a unique ability to control nature through an individual known as The Scribe. Throughout the film’s first 25 minutes the language spoken is entirely alien to us with no subtitles guiding the way, the choice by Basa creating a true sense of the unknown in the viewer.
Yanara is soon visited by a human mining crew from the DeSales Company. The DeSales led Madame Victorine Charbonneau (Fèvre) to want to exploit the planet for generating fuel, requiring the construction of a mine and the removal of the Yanara. In revenge, The Scribe (Bousso) manifests a series of disasters against the mining company. Jermain Barro who leads the mining company believes The Scribe is using a dangerous piece of technology that turns drawings into reality via the ecosystem itself. After Barro captures The Scribe, he interrogates him and demands he give the technology to him. After the Scribe refuses, Charbonneau demands Barro and the miners force the locals into slavery by destroying the technology, destroying the Yanara’s faith.
The final act consists of a brutal battle between DeSales with futuristic weapons and the Yanara with simple tools and arrows. Eventually, The Scribe is captured along with his technology and brought before Charbonneau. The Scribe tells her the technology can’t be used by anyone, and it has no meaning outside of their home planet. In the final scene, as the artficact is on display in a museum of various alien artifacts, The Scribe remotely detonates the device killing many of the corporate before escaping his cell. In the final shot, he intentionally launches himself into space, to prevent it from even being used again.
What makes this film special? Why was it nominated for this/these category/categories?
Harvest Moon is nominated for Best Film due to the film’s nuances and stylistic choices of color, sound, and design to create a deeper meaning. Additionally, the film’s references and criticisms of colonialism and corporate exploitation are admirable.
Harvest Moon is nominated for Best Costume Design for the film's mixture of traditional Koldan design with modern slick business ware, this style known as Koldan-futurism has become popular within Koldan fiction in recent years, as the film demonstrates the concept very well. The contrast between the Yanara and the Miners is also symbolic with the Yanara wearing traditional cloth with simple patterns while the miners wear slick and rigged clothes made from synthetic material.
Sokhna Bousso is nominated for Best Supporting Actor as he plays an exceptional villain in the eyes of the De Sales, and an exceptional hero to his people. The conflict between The Scribe and Barro as each tries to convince the other man of his ill’s is exceptional.
Any additional info: Harvest Moon was controversial within Kolda as the film is inspired by natural gas and mineral extraction operations by Descoteaux and Pirot. D&P has been accused of human rights abuses on numerous occasions and the film brought about a national public debate over the operations within the Moudjerria Region. D&P attempted to sue Basa and film distributors although the case was thrown out, a major victory for political freedom in a country known for corporate and government censorship.
The Bluest Sea: Nuiqsut Confederation
Film Title: Tunngujuttak Nilak Te (The Bluest Sea)
Nominating Nation: Nuiqsut Confederation
Nomination Category/Categories: Best Documentary Film
Language: Kaquismaq (with English and Oapuik subtitles)
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min
Director: Shak’shaani Eesh (Jerome Eesh)
Producing Studio/Company: Nuiqsut Society of Film
Cast:
Robert Gdmang’ra as Robert
Brittiany Durangara as Eve
Rodney Johnara’u as Young Robert
Brief Summary (No more than 2-3 medium paragraphs please):
Nuiqust is a vast rural country, with large sections of the country being sparsely populated. Robert playing himself has lived in the village of Fort Jackson the town where he was born. The Opthelian Authority controls much of the country through a series of military bases, we witness these moments and others via Robert’s stories told by himself featuring actors. At just 12 years of age, Robert along with his family is forcibly interned as a result of activities by the Nuiqsut Independence Party who thought the early 1960s raided multiple Opherlian settlements.
The second act opens on Ukagavit Island, where Robert and around 5,000 of his people the Eastern Kaquismaq are being held in an open-air prison under the watch of armed guards. The island’s remoteness and lack of resources lead to starvation among those imprisoned. Additionally, the native Islanders operate on a matriarchal system. However, Robert begins to develop a relationship with Eve a native whose views on gender and responsibility clash with Robert’s. Later on in 1965, as the Kaquismaq are freed from their imprisonment and they are taken home, Robert feels an intense conflicting feeling over 500 people including some of his family died yet having to leave Eve is bittersweet as the two grow closer over the years.
The film ends with the real-life Robert revealing that he returned to Fort Jackson and remained even as the town’s population decreased with Robert being the last person remaining. In the final shot, Robert returns to where he was once imprisoned, with the facilities remaining abandoned since the war.
What makes this film special?
The Bluest Sea effectively captures the conflicting emotions of coming of age in a time of trauma, and the film highlights an often overlooked story of the Great War. The mixture of interview and documentary footage as well as recreations of Robert’s story creates a truly great documentary.
Additional info: The Bluest Sea was created by students as part of a nationwide virtual film program, with various college students at Nuiqust University shadowing in production and learning from industry experts. This is Jerome Eesh’s directorial debut and only the third film in Nuiqsut history to gross over 5 million NKD ($200,000).
Nominating Nation: Kolda
Nomination Category/Categories: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costume Design
Language: French (Dubbed into Arabic, English, and Kango)
Run Time: 2 hr 38 min
Director: Paul Soumanou Basa
Producing Studio/Company: Rivière Verte Productions
Cast:
Ousmane Toure as Jermain Barro
Sokhna Bousso as The Scribe
Anouk Fèvre as Madame Victorine Charbonneau
Brief Summary
The film begins in a small village, the people are aliens who have over time evolved from humans, three small bumps on their foreheads distinguish them but besides that are almost identical to humans. The people known as the Yanara have a unique ability to control nature through an individual known as The Scribe. Throughout the film’s first 25 minutes the language spoken is entirely alien to us with no subtitles guiding the way, the choice by Basa creating a true sense of the unknown in the viewer.
Yanara is soon visited by a human mining crew from the DeSales Company. The DeSales led Madame Victorine Charbonneau (Fèvre) to want to exploit the planet for generating fuel, requiring the construction of a mine and the removal of the Yanara. In revenge, The Scribe (Bousso) manifests a series of disasters against the mining company. Jermain Barro who leads the mining company believes The Scribe is using a dangerous piece of technology that turns drawings into reality via the ecosystem itself. After Barro captures The Scribe, he interrogates him and demands he give the technology to him. After the Scribe refuses, Charbonneau demands Barro and the miners force the locals into slavery by destroying the technology, destroying the Yanara’s faith.
The final act consists of a brutal battle between DeSales with futuristic weapons and the Yanara with simple tools and arrows. Eventually, The Scribe is captured along with his technology and brought before Charbonneau. The Scribe tells her the technology can’t be used by anyone, and it has no meaning outside of their home planet. In the final scene, as the artficact is on display in a museum of various alien artifacts, The Scribe remotely detonates the device killing many of the corporate before escaping his cell. In the final shot, he intentionally launches himself into space, to prevent it from even being used again.
What makes this film special? Why was it nominated for this/these category/categories?
Harvest Moon is nominated for Best Film due to the film’s nuances and stylistic choices of color, sound, and design to create a deeper meaning. Additionally, the film’s references and criticisms of colonialism and corporate exploitation are admirable.
Harvest Moon is nominated for Best Costume Design for the film's mixture of traditional Koldan design with modern slick business ware, this style known as Koldan-futurism has become popular within Koldan fiction in recent years, as the film demonstrates the concept very well. The contrast between the Yanara and the Miners is also symbolic with the Yanara wearing traditional cloth with simple patterns while the miners wear slick and rigged clothes made from synthetic material.
Sokhna Bousso is nominated for Best Supporting Actor as he plays an exceptional villain in the eyes of the De Sales, and an exceptional hero to his people. The conflict between The Scribe and Barro as each tries to convince the other man of his ill’s is exceptional.
Any additional info: Harvest Moon was controversial within Kolda as the film is inspired by natural gas and mineral extraction operations by Descoteaux and Pirot. D&P has been accused of human rights abuses on numerous occasions and the film brought about a national public debate over the operations within the Moudjerria Region. D&P attempted to sue Basa and film distributors although the case was thrown out, a major victory for political freedom in a country known for corporate and government censorship.
The Bluest Sea: Nuiqsut Confederation
Film Title: Tunngujuttak Nilak Te (The Bluest Sea)
Nominating Nation: Nuiqsut Confederation
Nomination Category/Categories: Best Documentary Film
Language: Kaquismaq (with English and Oapuik subtitles)
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min
Director: Shak’shaani Eesh (Jerome Eesh)
Producing Studio/Company: Nuiqsut Society of Film
Cast:
Robert Gdmang’ra as Robert
Brittiany Durangara as Eve
Rodney Johnara’u as Young Robert
Brief Summary (No more than 2-3 medium paragraphs please):
Nuiqust is a vast rural country, with large sections of the country being sparsely populated. Robert playing himself has lived in the village of Fort Jackson the town where he was born. The Opthelian Authority controls much of the country through a series of military bases, we witness these moments and others via Robert’s stories told by himself featuring actors. At just 12 years of age, Robert along with his family is forcibly interned as a result of activities by the Nuiqsut Independence Party who thought the early 1960s raided multiple Opherlian settlements.
The second act opens on Ukagavit Island, where Robert and around 5,000 of his people the Eastern Kaquismaq are being held in an open-air prison under the watch of armed guards. The island’s remoteness and lack of resources lead to starvation among those imprisoned. Additionally, the native Islanders operate on a matriarchal system. However, Robert begins to develop a relationship with Eve a native whose views on gender and responsibility clash with Robert’s. Later on in 1965, as the Kaquismaq are freed from their imprisonment and they are taken home, Robert feels an intense conflicting feeling over 500 people including some of his family died yet having to leave Eve is bittersweet as the two grow closer over the years.
The film ends with the real-life Robert revealing that he returned to Fort Jackson and remained even as the town’s population decreased with Robert being the last person remaining. In the final shot, Robert returns to where he was once imprisoned, with the facilities remaining abandoned since the war.
What makes this film special?
The Bluest Sea effectively captures the conflicting emotions of coming of age in a time of trauma, and the film highlights an often overlooked story of the Great War. The mixture of interview and documentary footage as well as recreations of Robert’s story creates a truly great documentary.
Additional info: The Bluest Sea was created by students as part of a nationwide virtual film program, with various college students at Nuiqust University shadowing in production and learning from industry experts. This is Jerome Eesh’s directorial debut and only the third film in Nuiqsut history to gross over 5 million NKD ($200,000).
<t>The Federation of Slokais Islands- fighting for freedom and democracy</t>