Congratulations to Heidi Specogna and the entire team behind CAHIER AFRICAIN: After having received the German as well the Swiss Film Award in 2017, the film is among the winners of the renowned German Grimme Award in the category of Information and Culture. The award ceremony will take place on 13 April in Marl, Germany, and will honour 68 laureates this year. For director Heidi Specogna it is the second time winning the Grimme Award, Johann Feindt will already receive the prize for the third time for his brilliant camera work.
The jury praises Specogna's profound and understanding way of narration which has become rare within the media landscape. Also, the film is said to have captured the people's strenuous escape from continuing civil war in the Central African Republic in disturbingly dense, and dramatic images within an outstanding cinematography. The jury refers to the film as being very personal and full of empathy on the basis of intimacy and reliability towards its protagonists. Thus, CAHIER AFRICAIN is the embodied proof why documentary work is so essential within our fast-paced contemporary media landscape. The jury concludes their statement by stating the film is a unique document from a distant world, which we only ever hear from.
CAHIER AFRICAIN is a co-production of Filmpunkt with Swiss PS Film (Peter Spoerri) as well as ZDF/3Sat (commissioning editors: Katya Mader, Udo Bremer). Among others, supported by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.