Another Planet News

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International Film Festival Innsbruck

Another Planet received the Südwind Award of 18th International Film Festival Innsbruck, June 9th - 14th 2009, Jury Statement (of Student Jury composed of 15 youths):

“After due consideration – and vivid discussion – we, the student  jury, decided to present the Südwind-Award to a film that moved us  deeply. Powerfully and skilfully, the film weaves together word and  image, landscape and emotion, thereby exposing the cruel circle of  children’s exploitation from both an intimate and a broader  perspective. The film does not use a voice-of-God commentary, but  rather purely filmic means to provide us with important insights. Its  “here, there, and everywhere-approach”, its images from around the  world make ANTOHER PLANET an outstanding contribution not only to  this festival. Our congratulations go to its director, Ferenc  Moldovanyi.”

28th International
Grand Prix for Author's Documentaries – URTI

Another Planet received the Bronze Medal of the
28th International Grand Prix for Author's
Documentaries – URTI:

“The Jury of the 28th URTI International Grand Prix for Author's Documentary proclaimed its list of award winners on Monday June 18th, 2009. The jury chaired by the director Gaston Kaboré from Burkina Faso was composed of representatives from 14 countries. 123 documentaries were presented in competition by 81 television channels. The awards were given out in the framework of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival during a ceremony organized at the Hotel Hermitage.”

11th International Film Festival on Human Rights in Buenos Aires

Another Planet received the Honour Mention of the International Jury of the 11th International Film Festival on Human Rights in Buenos Aires:

“Másik Bolygó”, (Another planet), by Ferenc Moldoványi (Hungary, Finland), “because through an excellent cinematographic language it denounces, in seven different stories, the exploitation suffered by childhood in the planet, in this 21th century”

The Best Documentary Feature Prize,
"Shaken's Stars-2009", at the Almaty International Film Festival in Kazahstan for Another Planet

Another Planet has won the Best Documentary Feature Film  Award of  the International Jury (Chairman: Nana Dzhordzhadze, famous Georgian film director) at the  Almaty International Film Festival "Shaken's Stars-2009", (May 16-20, 2009)

The director-producer Ferenc Moldoványi has recently received the Bouquet of Flowers of UNICEF’s Highest Appreciation

Press release by UNICEF Hungary: Bouquet of Flowers of UNICEF’s
Highest Appreciation

Film director Ferenc Moldoványi received the recognition of UNICEF for his documentaries featuring children’s issues

“I am sending this bouquet of flowers to Mr Ferenc Moldoványi as the sign of UNICEF’s highest appreciation. Let it become the symbol of a better world which we can create with our love and care for the coming generations.”

This is the message accompanying the Bouquet of UNICEF’s Highest Appreciation sent by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sir Roger Moore. Civilians, institutions or organizations enhancing physical, mental and spiritual development of children and implementation of their rights are honoured with the bouquet.

The Bouquet of Highest Appreciation was first donated to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of UNICEF in 1996. On that occasion Queen Margaret of Denmark, Queen Fabiola of Belgium and the Princess of Thailand received this high honour.

In Hungary the bouquet is awarded by the Hungarian National Committee for UNICEF. Among the previous recipients were Mrs Zsuzsa Göncz, wife of the former President of Hungary as well as Prof Katalin Gönczöl, the first Hungarian parliamentary commissioner for human rights. In 2006 upon his visit to Hungary, Sir Roger Moore personally handed over the bouquet to Ms. Judit Halász, a popular actress and national UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

This year UNICEF Hungary awarded the Bouquet of UNICEF’s Highest Appreciation to film director Mr Ferenc Moldoványi. Moldoványi’s feature documentary and docu-fictions present the lives of vulnerable children crippled by the conflicts and fights of adults with great empathy and responsibility. He uncovers with great stamina and persistence how the world treats the upcoming generation entrusted to its care and makes the viewer face the results of his study in an objective manner.

In his film Children, Kosovo 2000 he gave cameras to child witnesses of the Balkan wars to film with, thus helping unfold and overcome their painful memories. His last film Another Planet, made in co-production with the Hungarian Television, depicts the lives of seven children, those of child-labourers, child-prostitutes and child-soldiers. He gives insight into their lives and everyday struggle for survival with great tact. “Another Planet represents a bereft world, which we have to face up to have to come to know and which we must change to make our Planet a liveable place again.” – Moldoványi says. Moldoványi’s film has received numerous international awards. In recognition of his high standard of work with children, UNICEF invited him to chair the Jury of One Minutes Junior (an international video competition for youngsters) in 2004. Requested by UNICEF he also conducted a workshop for young amateur filmmakers. Mr István Takács, President of the Hungarian National Committee for UNICEF handed over the Bouquet of flowers of UNICEF’s Highest Appreciation to Mr Ferenc Moldoványi at a screening of the film Another Planet on the 28th of May 2009.


UPCOMING FESTIVAL SCREENINGS FOR
ANOTHER PLANET

Another Planet will be presented in the International Competition of DOCVILLE in Leuven held between 2nd- 9th May Meanwhile the film is also presented at the Bahrein Human Rights International Film Festival. Another Planet will be in the Main Competition for the Millennium Award at Planet Doc Film Festival in Warsaw.

The next Latin American screenings will take place in Santiago del Estero and Buenos Aires in May and June at the International Human Rights Festival. The Asian public can see the film again in the capital of Kazahstan, Almaty in May and in Seoul in June. Following these the film returns to Europe and will be presented in Innsbruck and Huesca.


ANOTHER PLANET SELECTED FINALIST FOR THE BEST AUTHOR’S DOCUMENTARYBY URTI

“Another Planet”’ is a finalist for the 28th International Grand Prix for Author’s Documentaries and is among the 10 films selected by  the International Radio and Television University (URTI)

The ten finalists were selected from 123 documentaries from 81 channels broadcasting from 47 different countries – according to URTI.

The final competition where the international jury selects the winner form the finalists will take place from Friday, June 5 to Monday, June 8 in Monaco during the TV Festival of Monte-Carlo.


ANOTHER PLANET IN TUNIS

Theatre MuncipialAnother Planet was presented with great success for the Tunisian public completely filling the Theatre Municipal seating more than eight-hundred people. The audience gave the film an extremely positive reception proven by loud applause and outstanding interest shown during the Q and A following the screening.

Ferenc Moldoványi had been invited as the special guest of the Festival and also gave a masterclass for the students of the Tunis Film School, which enjoyed great interest on the part of the students of the North African country.


ANOTHER PLANET WON IN ROME

Another Planet won the Best Documentary Award of the 8th Rome Independent Film Festival. The director could not participate in the prestigious festival however he would like to thank the festival for the prize and for the kind letter of the festival director Mr. Fabrizio Ferrari, see below:

Letter from Mr Fabrizio Ferrari

You can also find the news about these awards in the publication of MTI, the Hungarian News Agency:

Hungarian documentary on children wins int'l awards

2009. március 30.

The Hungarian documentary "Another Planet" won awards at two international festivals this month, the Hungarian Film Union told MTI on Monday.

The title directed by Ferenc Moldovanyi received the award for best documentary ahead of 17 other productions at the 8th Rome Independent Film Festival that ended on the weekend. At the Thessaloniki documentary film festival it received the prize of the ERT3 public television, which will show the film on its programme soon.

Moldovanyi made the film between 2005 and 2007 about the shocking daily life of children forced to labour, prostitution and killing as young "soldiers" in Congo, Cambodia and Ecuador.


ANOTHER PLANET SUCCESSFULLY SCREENED IN GUADALAJARA

DoculabAnother Planet, which was in the Windows and Mirrors section, was successfully presented at the 24th Guadalajara Film Festival. The director-producer Ferenc Moldoványi who was invited to the international jury of the Mexican documentaries presented his film to the Latin American professionals with great success and his masterclass DOCULAB was followed by keen interest.

Ferenc Moldoványi who was on the jury with Karin Hoffinger (Head of the Intl. Relations Dept of the Berlinale) and Lucía Gajá (outstanding Mexican documentary filmmaker) found the Mexican documentary selection very interesting and very fresh in form and content. From among the excellent selection the jury gave the Best Documentary Prize to “Los que quedan” by Carlos Hagerman and Juan Carlos Rulfo and the Special Mention went to “El viaje del cometa” by Ivonne Fuentes Mendoza.


ANOTHER PLANET HAS WON ERT3 AWARD AT THE 11TH INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL IN THESSALONIKI

Another Planet has won the Award of the Greek Public Television ERT 3 at the International Documentary Film Festival held between 13th and 22nd of March. Thanks to the Award the Greek public will also be able to view the film on ERT3 channel.

The film awarded several prestigious prizes can be seen in different countries on four continents during the spring film festival season.

The film met great success in Mexico City at FICCO at the end of February and at the same time it started its rounds in various cities of New Zealand such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Denein. The screenings will go on until mid-April in the programme of the prestigious DOCNZ.

Following the premieres in Ankara, Oslo, Athens and Rome Another Planet will be screened at the 24th Guadaljara International Film Festival for the Latin American public and professionals. The Guadalajara Festival is one of the most important showcases of the Ibero-American films and the outstanding motion pictures of the rest of the world. The rich film selection of the festival and the market running parallel with it are accompanied by other professional events and master classes. The director-producer Ferenc Moldoványi will be on the International Jury of Mexican Long-feature Documentaries. Ferenc will also give a masterclass and present Another Planet in “DOCULAB” for selected Latin American filmmakers.

Another Planet will be seen by the North African public at the 4th Doc á Tunis where the director-producer introduces his film and his previous work such as Children, Kosovo 2000 at the masterclass event called Lecon du Cinema.

The film will also be presented in Montevideo in Uruguay and Belgrade in Serbia.


"Another Planet" has won Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary Film of 31st Starz Denver International Film Festival

31st Starz Denver Film Festival Juried Awards:

The festival's documentary award, named after the great filmmaker brothers, Albert and David Maysles is presented each year to a outstanding documentary. The jury this year was comprised of Los Angeles Film Festival senior programmer, Doug Jones, the Director of Programming for SILVERDOCS, Sky Sitney, and filmmaker Michael Jacobs.

For its masterful filmmaking and restrained approach to an extraordinarily difficult subject, the year's winner employs evocative images and sound to culminate in an emotional, cinematic experience that challenges and rewards its audience. The recipient of the 2008 Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary Film is Ferenc Moldovanyi's Another Planet.


Another Planet has won Special Award of the
International Jury of th 57th International Film Festival of Mannheim-Heidelberg.

The Laureates of the
57th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2008

International Jury: Edgar Reitz, president (Germany), Alexander Bohr (Germany),Raisa Fomina (Russia), Martin Paul-Hus (Canada), Jaana Puskala (Finland)

Announcement of the International Jury

"The International Jury wants to express its high regards for the quality of the selection of the films in competition. We have seen 18 films that show in an impressive way how vigorous the auteur film is in all parts of the world and with what an admirable commitment young filmmakers try to express their relation to their personal life, to their cultural background and to their dreams. Despite their diversity all films are very personal and full of solidarity and sympathy for the lives of their protagonists." (...)

Special Award of the International Jury

goes to Ferenc Moldoványi from Hungary
for the film Másik Bolygó / Another Planet

"There are films which defy with persistence our willingness to forget quickly. "Another Planet" is such a film. It guides us, without ever striking a false note, into the depressing world of child labour and prostitution, which we never experienced before on the screen with such directness and intimacy.
We admire the director Ferenc Moldoványi for his courage and his perseverance - he worked for over five years to accomplish this touching and just as much disturbing masterpiece. With its artistic forms of expression and its deep spirituality it transcends the limitations of documentary film.
The international premiere of this film here in Mannheim-Heidelberg is a memorable event."


31st Starz Denver International Film Festival

"Expanding upon themes he explored in Children: Kosovo 2000 (SDFF 24), Ferenc Moldoványi's latest documentary is at once hypnotically beautiful and acutely disturbing. Shot over a two-year period in four countries on four continents-Ecuador (South America), Mexico (North America), Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa), and Cambodia (Asia)-Another Planet unfolds as a cinematic tone poem in the tradition of Koyaanisqatsi, exposing the unequal distribution of wealth around the world as a major humanitarian crisis. Framed by pastoral sequences in which a Tarahumara shaman imparts a dream of paradise on earth, the film moves quickly and seamlessly between the lives of seven children inextricably linked by their shocking and tragic experiences of daily exploitation and abuse. We meet lonely, aimless urchins, barely eking out a living on the streets. We see child laborers toiling in brick factories, garbage dumps, and brothels, only to be beaten when business is down. And perhaps most harrowing of all, we get to know the child soldiers of Congo as they are turned into killing machines.

Throughout this journey, Moldoványi's unwavering vision reminds us of the eternal coexistence of beauty and horror all over the world. Informed by the haunting cinematography of Tibor Máthé as well as Tibor Szemzö's ethereal soundtrack, Another Planet crosses cultural boundaries to forge a commentary on the human condition as damning as it is open-ended."

57th International Film Festival Mannheim - Heidelberg Official Catalogue

ANOTHER PLANET - 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg

An extraordinary documentary film-essay, a shocking panorama about the state of world in the first decade of the 21st century, filmed between 2005 and 2007 in Africa, Latin-America and Southeast Asia.

A film about children and their exploitation and enslavement through child labour, prostitution and their abuse as child soldiers. The little girl selling cigarettes and chewing gum in Ecuador, the boy working as a shoe shiner, the child soldiers in the Congo, the boy and girl soaked in the rain toiling in a brickworks in Cambodia under degrading conditions, and those children rummaging on a rubbish dump to earn a dollar if they are lucky: the fate of all these children is an expression of a shameful reality in the "International Year of Planet Earth", declared for the year 2008 by the United Nations.

Ferenc Moldoványi is not contentment with just portraying the misery of these people. The fictional framework of his cinematic essay, provided by the suggestive music of the Hungarian composer and experimental filmmaker Tibor Szemző, along with the creation legend of the Tarahumara Indians which accompanies the start of the film, and which blesses a child in a fabulous natural landscape with the words "May your soul be strong and vigorous", as he carries a wooden cross, transcend the image of squalor, of contemptuous exploitation and suppression and turn this into engagingly accusatory and global filmic meditation on the state of planet earth today, in contrast to the cosmology of the Tarahumaras, who still understand how to live in harmony with nature.

57th International Film Festival Mannheim - Heidelberg Official Catalogue

CPH:DOX International Documentary Film Festival

Another Planet

A strong and uncompromising portrait of the planet, seen from a bird's eye perspective

The visionary British author Aldous Huxley once suggested that this world is another planet's hell. 'Another Planet' takes his word for it and weaves together seven stories from three different parts of the world to create a sombre diagnosis of the planet's near future. Child labourers, child soldiers and very young prostitutes represent a generation born into a hard and short life in poverty, while they offer their own take about a possible future - and in one example also a look at deeply disturbing and symbol-laden visions of the end of the world. With 'Another Planet', the Hungarian director Ferenc Moldoványi has lived up to his neck-breakingly ambitious project with a virtuous hand - and has created an intensely up-close film from a planet, which we seriously end up wishing was not our own.


"Another Planet" screened at the 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

Poverty and disease, the destruction of the environment, violence and helplessness - who is exposed to these conditions the most, and who can least defend themselves? The children.

Of course, we have all known this for a long time. Yet, we do not want to and cannot really see it. With a knee-jerk reaction, we are turning away our eyes and our thoughts. Who would want to feel helpless? However, is this any good?

How about looking at things directly for once? In a way that does not merely serve as an "Oh, that" evidence for, naturally, we do sort of know what is going on. What if we would take a real look? Really perceiving what is going on?

A film from Hungary shows us how it works. How different this would be. Concussive, but as a true experience, not as mere words. You will be astounded, ladies and gentlemen.

I am happy to present you this masterpiece in the International Competition of the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome with me - director Ferenc Moldoványi


"Another Planet" screened at the 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

Another Planet - Másik bolygó a creative documentary feature has been invited to the International Competition of the 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

At the section “International Competition” 18 films by new-comer directors from fourteen countries compete for the Main Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg, the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Award and the Special Award of the International Jury.

The Solemn Premiere of “Another Planet” will take place 8th November, on Saturday at 6pm in the Kino in Stadthaus 1 in Mannheim and 12th November on Tuesday at 8.15pm Studio Europa in Heidelberg both in the presence of the director Ferenc Moldoványi.

The film won the Best Photography and the “Green Raven Award” for the Best Documentary at the 39th Hungarian Filmweek. The highly successful international premiere of the film was at the World Film Festival of Montreal, which is the only category “A” festival in North America.
The Asian premiere took place in Pusan in October and the Latin American public could also see the film in Sao Paulo at the prestigious Mostra.
The film has recently been screened at the 53rd International Film Festival of Valladolid and received excellent reviews.
Parallel with Mannheim the film will also be screened in the official competition of the International Documentary Film Festival of Copenhagen where it is nominated for the Amnesty International Award together with nine other works.
Following the Mannheim Solemn Premiere the film travels to the USA to the Starz Denver International Film Festival where from over 40 documentaries screened at the event it is nominated for the prestigious Maysles Brothers Award for the Best Documentary together with 5 other works.
The film will also be screened at the IDFA in Amsterdam, in Oulu in Finland and also at the Kerala International Film Festival in Trivandrum. The film has recently been invited for the competitive section “Man and his Environment” of FesTroia in the next year.


Pusan International Film Festival 2008

"Shot on four continents and spoken in five languages, this docu-drama studies the problems facing Earth today. Looking at rampant ecological, political, and social unrest and injustice, Moldoványi's two-year survey of where we are and where we seem to be going is an illuminating look at contemporary human experience."

Feb. 11. 2008 12:00AM
By Brigitta Bokor

Green Raven

Green Raven Award for Another Planet

The National Student Jury of the 39th Hungarian Film Week awarded the Prize of Best Documentary “Green Raven” to Another Planet.

Another PlanetFebruary 9th, Saturday night the annual award ceremony of Hungary's Student Jury took place at one of the most recognized art cinemas of the capital, Toldi. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of participating in the Hungarian Film Week, the National Student Jury held its own festival after the wrap-up of the 39th Film Week. During the event, the Green Raven awards of the 39th Film Week were handout out in six categories but this year a new award has been added to the list.The National Student Jury was founded in 1999. The year 2004 was a turning point in the history of the Student Jury as it was the year in which they became a national organization. Throughout the years the activities of the organization have gradually been extended and today they participate in many film festivals other than the annual Hungarian Film Week. The Student Jury's main goal is to represent the unbiased opinion of the youth interested in films and to discuss which films are the ones most liked by young people of our days. In an attempt to fill in the large gap between laymen and the professionals, members of the Student Jury strive on bringing these two groups closer to each other. Appreciating creative values without being involved in film politics is their objective, says Tamás Teszler, president of the National Student Jury. This is the reason why each year -following the Hungarian Film Week- they have their own award ceremony where they have the possibility of awarding films they deem the best, without any pressure put on them.

Saturday night the first prize to be handed out was in the documentary section. Out of 46 films, Ferenc Moldoványi's Another Planet (Másik bolygó) won. (...)

An award to be given for the very first time throughout the history of the National Student Jury was in the category of the best Hungarian film of the decade. Five films have been nominated for this prize and out of these five Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies (Werckmeister harmóniák) received the title of being the best Hungarian film of the past ten years. Béla Tarr, director of films such as Damnation or Satantango, is acknowledged worldwide for his works. After a few years of silence, his newest film is The Man from London which has already become a big hit in just a short time. The National Student Jury is an integral part of Hungarian cinematography, representing the pure views of students and the youth interested in Hungarian film. It is important that they continue their work throughout the years without changing their principles. Let's hope that there are many more years to come in their lives!

By Brigitta Bokor

Another Planet received “Best Photography Award”
of the 39th Hungarian Film Week

Tibor Máthé received the Prize the Best Photography for the film “Another Planet” in the category Creative Documentary Feature of the 39th Hungarian Film Week.