21/04/2005

The documentary Coca – The Dove from Chechnya (Coca – Die Taube aus Tschetschenien) which premiered in Berlin (at the young directors’ Forum) and was shown recently (19th April) at the Swiss festival ‘Visions of the Real’ in Nyon, is in competition at the famous Tribeca Film Festival, currently taking place in the Big Apple (19th April-1st May).

This documentary by Eric Bergkraut produced by Rose-Marie Schneider (Doc Productions, Zurich), shows the struggle of a business-woman, Sainap Gachayeva, aka Coca (Dove) : she and other women have videotaped the claims of people who witnessed the terrible violence inflicted in Chechnya for the so-called ‘anti-terrorism’ campaign and have been trying to bring the matter before an international court since 1994. Outside the festival, the Swiss Consulate in New-York and the Swiss section of the UN will also screen this film.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, during the Hotdocs Festival (22d April-1st May), the International Show Case section will show Melodias by the Swiss director François Bovy, in competition for three foreign film awards. The first screening was scheduled for the 23d of April, that is, one day after its world-premiere at Vision of the Real (Nyon, Switzerland). This documentary was produced by Les films de la dernière heure and coproduced by Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR); it follows the daily life of a taxi-driver, a hit-man, and a police officer, in the streets of Medellin.

(Translated from French)