2nd Prize goes to “To Make An Example Of”

23.03.2008 - TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF has won the Second Award of the National Documentary Competition at the 19th Ankara International Film Festival.

From the press conference in Thessaloniki

11.03.2008 - A press conference was given on Tuesday, March 11 at the Olympion’s Green Room, by the directors of the documentaries To make an example of, Necati Sonmez, Maria’s Grotto, Buthina Canaan Khoury and Territories, Mary Elen Davis.

To Make an Example of, which is included in the Stories to Tell section of the Documentary Festival, deals with the subject of the death penalty in Turkey. “The main purpose of the documentary is to communicate the last moments of the condemned, just before the executions, thus highlighting the issue of the violation of human rights”, said the film’s Necati Sonmez. He talked about the difficulties he faces because of a lack of material, as well as the nature of the issue itself. “We relied on letters written by the condemned to their families, just before their executions. We shot in two abandoned prisons which had been used for this purpose, while at the same time we tried to find testimonies from other people involved in the executions, such as judges or lawyers”, N. Sonmez noted. He added that the death penalty was abolished in Turkey only in 2002, mainly as part of Turkey’s “Europeanization” process due to its candidacy in joining the European Union. “The percentage of the Turkish Parliament that voted for the return of the death penalty is characteristic. It was almost 49%. This fact was my reason to begin making this documentary. It is an issue that is still being discussed in Turkey, it is an open wound which has not healed”, the director noted. […]

Source: TDF

“To Make An Example Of” is in Thessaloniki

20.01.2008 - TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF has been selected for the official program of the 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century which will be held at March 7-16, 2008. Among the approximately 200 films that constitute this year’s program, the 10th TDF will present some world premieres including Culture 68 by Simon Brook and Love and Sex in China by Annamaria Gallone. Various discussions and roundtables will take place during the festival such as "Faces of Facism" and "Approaching Nature". The International Doc Market and The Pitching Forum will be held as well among the parallel events.

Best Documentary Award

15.12.2007 - TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF has won the Best Documentary Award (Golden Karagoz) in 2nd International Silkroad Film Festival which was held in Bursa at December 7-13, 2007.