Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely
Directed by
2021

Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely is the dystopia-as-documentary rather than as fiction, since, for many inhabitants of this world, the apocalypse is not a future possibility but a historical reality. The short documentary essay explores Beirut’s overlooked and marginalized areas that were also affected by the blast on August 4, 2020. These areas sit on both sides of the Beirut river’s banks. The river became a conductor for the blast’s wave due to its length and the fact that it is devoid of barriers. The film refers to the 4th of August, 2020, as the day the world ended yet remaining factual as at this point, reality sounds apocalyptic with a global pandemic, deadly pollution, desolate neighborhoods, financial meltdown, resource scarcity, and food shortage.

Link to the film

Festivals

The two Ecumenical Juries in Oberhausen awarded their prizes to "Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely" by Panos Aprahamian (International Competition) and to "37" by Meshy Koplevitch (International Online Competition). The Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen went to "Weathering Heights" by Hannah Wiker Wikström, the Grand Online Prize to "Ava mocoi, os gêmeos" by Luiza Calagian and Vinicius Toro.

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Joël Friso, member of the Ecumenical Jury in Oberhausen 2022 and Board Member of INTERFILM, writes about his experience at the festival.
List of church film prizes awarded in 2022

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