The 24th edition of the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) has honored films from Iran and Sudan with its top prizes. “A Fox Under a Pink Moon” took home the Grand Prix for documentary, while “Cotton Queen” was awarded the Grand Prix for fiction.
“This selection reflects the richness of the voices that the FIFDH highlights,” said co-editorial directors Laura Longobardi and Laila Alonso Huarte on Saturday. “These films reveal often unknown realities,” they added.
The documentary winner, “A Fox Under a Pink Moon,” follows the five-year attempt of 16-year-old Afghan Soraya Akhlaghi to flee Iran. Created by Akhlaghi with Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, the film denounces the violence of patriarchy. The Grand Prix includes a 10,000 franc prize, offered by the City and Canton of Geneva – double the amount awarded to Arjun Talwar’s “Letters from Wolf Street,” which received the Viera de Mello prize. That documentary explores the everyday racism faced by migrants in Poland.
Colonization Denounced
In the fiction category, Suzannah Mirghani’s “Cotton Queen” earned the Grand Prix, also with a 10,000 franc prize from the Barbour Foundation. The film confronts viewers with the power struggles and stories of women against colonization in a Sudanese cotton region. The festival’s impact extends beyond the screen, drawing over 200 artists, scientists, politicians, and activists alongside nearly 33,000 attendees.
The Vision for Human Rights prize, worth 5,000 francs, went to Yaara Bou Melhem’s “Yurlu/Country,” a film that unflinchingly examines the impact of colonial abuse on labor, land, and heritage.
The FIFDH concluded on Sunday. This year’s selections underscore the festival’s commitment to amplifying important, often marginalized, narratives on a global stage.
ats/lan
