Sisters Michelle and Noel Keserwany have secured the Golden Bear for Best Short Film award at the Berlinale film festival. Their film,
Les Chenilles which focuses on two women from the Levant who meet in Lyon, is
described as “a film about exploitation – then and now – and about female solidarity, friendship and solace.”
The
International Short Film Jury’s statement went as follows:
“Through carefully arranging image and sound, this complex sensual film transforms the means of woman’s oppression into those of their liberation. When the third person becomes an “I”, the women are no longer objects of exploitation, but have turned into subjects. The silkworms will metamorphose into spiders, whose nets do not serve silk production, but their own survival. An immediate friendship connects two women, in whose bodies the consequences of colonialization are inscribed. The magic of their bond will continue to exist in our perception. The Golden Bear for Best Short Film goes to Michelle and Noel Keserwany’s Les Chenilles.”
The jury consisted of Cătălin Cristuțiu, Sky Hopinka and Isabelle Stever, and also awarded
Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) the Silver Bear Award, and
It’s a Date a special mention.
We are proud to see Lebanese art and artists being recognized on such a big stage, and hope to see more local artists get their deserved international acclaim.