Mark of Cain wins Movies that Matter Award 2007

The Mark of Cain (UK) wins ‘Movies That Matter Award’ at Rotterdam Film Festival

The Mark of Cain by Marc Munden (UK, 2007), that had its world premiere in Rotterdam January 28, has been given the ‘ Movies that Matter Award’. Out of ten films on human rights within the festival selection, the Jury choose the film ‘for its raw realism. The Mark of Cain shows us that occupation forces, the soldiers we like to call ‘our boys’, also commit war crimes.” The ‘Movies that Matter Award’ comes with a stipendium of Euro 2,500. The Jury gave an Honourable Mention to the documentary Bil’in habibti (Bil’in My Love) by Shai Carmeli Pollak (Israel, 2006).

In The Mark of Cain Shane Gulliver and Mark ‘Treacle’ Tate are two 18-year-old friends serving in the British Army in Basra, Iraq in 2003. The troops were struggling to maintain the fragile peace. When their popular Captain Godber is killed by a bomb on patrol, morale takes a nosedive. Suspects are sought and arrested and in a night of heated emotions, prisoners mistreated. When they get back to England, photographs of the abuse of prisoners emerge clumsily and Shane and Treacle could expect to be prosecuted. The Mark of Cain is an exciting, convincing war film that provides insight into some unpleasant aspects of the war in Iraq better than the news on TV.

Bil’in My Love is a documentary about the peaceful demonstrations by villagers, Israelis and foreigners against the construction of the wall, that runs through the middle of this old Palestinian village. Shai Carmeli Pollak did not come to Bil’in as a film maker, but as an activist to take part in the protest against the land theft caused by the separation barrier. For a year and a half, he used his camera to document the moments of despair and hope, danger and courage and the birth of true partnership between Palestinians and Israelis.

Jury Movies that Matter Award
Ten films from the IFFR 2007 programme were nominated for the ‘Movies That Matter Award’. The jury consists of documentary filmmaker and activist Anand Patwardhan (India), writer Lieve Joris (Belgium) and filmmaker Vadim Perelman (Ukraine). The Movies that Matter Foundation continues the activities of the film festival department of Amnesty International in The Netherlands.