Camden International Film Festival Hands Out Awards To Globe-Spanning Contingent Of Documentary Filmmakers

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The 18thCamden International Film Festival on Maine’s mid-coast – an increasingly important destination for documentary filmmakers – wrapped its in-person portion Sunday after announcing a handful of awards.Day After…, directed by Kamar Ahmad Simon, won the festival’s Harrell Award, chosen from a group of “some of the most significant documentaries of the year.” The film is described as “A philosophical ballad along the rivers of Bangladesh, transporting the rich and poor, young and old, East and West in a century-old paddle steamer.”“The jury was unanimous in its admiration for this film, in which an old riverboat seems to contain an entire society’s worth of dreamers and hustlers, politicians and radicals,” juror Eric Hynes said, noting that the documentary employs “both hybrid techniques and dogged observational power.

This is a dazzling work of nonfiction.”The jury awarded a special mention to Polaris, another film with a nautical theme. Juror Assia Boundaoui described it as “a beautifully shot film that moves gracefully from the vast expanse of the Arctic Ocean to a glimpse into the innermost life of a woman bravely charting troubled waters.

Director Ainara Vera wields her camera lovingly and weaves a moving and intimate portrait of a captain struggling with love.”Another special mention was awarded to Foragers, directed by Jumana Manna, a film documenting “elderly Palestinians… caught between the right to forage their own land and the harsh restrictions imposed by their occupiers on the basis of preservation.”Juror Jessica Kingdon (an Oscar nominee earlier this year for her feature documentary Ascension) described Foragers as a “surprisingly whimsical portrait of a people and their tumultuous relationship with land