Clebs

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Movie
German title Clebs
Original title Clebs
Country of production Canada , Morocco
original language Arabic
Publishing year 2019
length 18 minutes
Rod
Director Halima Ouardiri
production Halima Ouardiri
camera Anna Cooley
cut Xi Feng
Xi Feng, Editor of Clebs , February 2020

Clebs (German translation: mutt ; English Festival Title Mutts ) is a Canadian-Moroccan documentary under the direction of Halima Ouardiri from the year 2019 . The film celebrated its world premiere on November 17, 2019 at the Festival international du film francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in Moncton , Canada . The European premiere was at the Berlinale 2020 . It ran in the Generation 14plus section , where it won the Transparent Bear for best short film.

content

The film lets the audience participate in a day at a sanctuary for stray dogs in the Moroccan desert.

It shows typical processes, a monotonous, sophisticated routine: the quiet in the early morning, sleeping in the barn, feeding in the courtyard, lying in the shade of the building during the midday heat, lying in the courtyard in the evening when it is quiet. The audience sees typical interactions: the dogs push each other to the side, a bitch refuses a male, puppies drink, occasionally an animal barks aggressively at another. In many scenes, the variety of brown and white tones of the fur of the mixed race, the animal feed and the sandy soil create aesthetic images.

People are rarely seen in this film. They look after the dogs almost without a word, open stable doors when there is food, close them in the evening so that the animals stay in the yard at night, and dispose of the manure. The film manages without dialogue. The sounds of the dogs, the barking, eating and drinking are in contrast to phases of silence, around the very beginning of the film.

The next morning the radio broadcasts news about refugee numbers. It can be heard that so far most of the refugees have been taken in by poor countries. This unexpected turn draws parallels with the socio-political situation in North Africa.

In the credits, the audience learns that 750 dogs are waiting for sponsors in this animal sanctuary (French: refuge ). The French word refuge is used, which is also used for places of refuge for people.

background

Halima Ouardiri was the director, Anna Cooley was the camerawoman and Xi Feng was responsible for editing the film . Ouardiri told the Italian film magazine Il Secolo XIX that the idea for the film came from a picture that she put on the Facebook page of Le Coeur sur la Patte , an organization that catches strays in Morocco, castrates, vaccinates and relays them : it showed a home for street dogs in which hundreds of dogs could be seen close together, which completely filled the picture. The similar ocher tones of the animals would have fascinated them as a picture. Another source of inspiration was the diptych Fighting Dogs by the New York artist Dan Witz.

The film was shot in Taroudant , Morocco near Agadir in the rescue station for dogs opened by Michèle Augsburger, the initiator of Le Coer sur la Patte, in which around 750 dogs were staying at the time. The legal situation in Morocco is difficult for animal rights activists, as the authorities repeatedly carry out mass killings of street dogs, whether they are vaccinated and cared for or not.

Filming lasted five days. In an interview with Oardiri: “We usually came in the morning and stayed until the end of the day. There is no electricity in the rescue station, so we had to rely on our camera batteries. So we only got around two hours of footage a day, which is not a lot. Whenever possible, we planned the settings very carefully, or Anna, our camerawoman, simply filmed and quietly followed the dogs' movements. "

The film was produced by Halima Ouardiri and Abel Aflam, Casablanca . The world distribution is with La Distributrice de Films , Montreal .

The film celebrated its world premiere on November 17, 2019 at the Rencontres du documentaire de Montréal and was shown in the same month at the Festival international du film francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in Moncton , Canada .

criticism

The Italian reviewer of Il Secolo XIX , Diana Letizia, argues that the film shows in its simplicity almost the futility of any theory about the supposed 'nature' of the dog if it is continuously deprived of its essence - in nature in this case, but even more often in our own four walls. “The film is a punch in the pit of the stomach, aimed ostensibly at the indifferent, those who care little about living beings in general, especially not about dogs. But it is also a heavy blow for all those who try with strength and passion to convince others of how important it is to give back their individuality to the dog that is so close to us: the pet that lives in the family, whose fate is linked with ours for better or for worse. "

Ismaël Houdassine of Radio Canada International sees the film as a “reflection on the life of millions of people in search of a hospitable country.” The film suggests a lot without saying a word about it.

Awards

At the Berlinale , the film was shown in the Generation 14plus section , where it won the Transparent Bear for best short film. The jury explained: “We were very impressed by the pictures, the light, the colors and the noises. The camera took us and put us right in the middle of the action; in the middle of a community, a coexistence and belonging together of hundreds of individuals. ... The film combines aesthetics and banality. It connects everyday life and politics. It tells about life and lets us feel and understand. "

In addition, Clebs received the special award from the International Jury of Generation 14plus at the Berlinale 2020 for the best short film worth 2,500 euros, donated by the Federal Agency for Political Education . The jury was of the opinion that, despite the simplest basic requirements, the film would develop into a “powerful confrontation with humanity, society, animals and the inseparability between them. An impressive work that is shaped by both conscience and heart, and brings us closer to understanding our immense global crisis. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Agence Marocaine De Presse (MAP): Berlinale 2020: Morocco's 'Clebs' by Halima Ouardiri Wins Crystal Bear for Best Short Film. In: Microsoft News - msn.com. February 29, 2020, accessed on March 12, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c Clebs (2019) - IMDb. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Clebs (Mutts). In: berlinale.de. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Diana Letizia: "Clebs": a short film in which "nobody's dogs" become "nobody". In: Il Secolo XIX - ilsecoloxix.it. February 12, 2020, accessed on March 12, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Ismaël Houdassine: Une vie de chien avec "clebs" de Halima Ouardiri. In: Radio Canada International - rcinet.ca. February 21, 2020, accessed on March 12, 2020 (French).
  6. ↑ a b c Awards and juries in the Generation section. Prizes of the youth jury in the Generation 14plus competition: Transparent bear for the best short film. In: berlinale.de. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .