Of Gods and Men wins Best European Film prize

Des Hommes et des Dieux (Of Gods and Men) by Xavier Beauvois of France has won the first Prize for Best European Film of 2010 offered by the European region of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication and Media.

Inspired by the tragic fate of seven French monks in the Algerian village of Tibhirine, in the early 1990s, the young French director, Xavier Beauvois, has chosen to tell this true story, not as an ordinary docudrama, but as a work of art of reflection and introspection.

This artistic choice makes Des hommes et des Dieux a spiritual meditation marked by tension, suspense and austerity. The winning film was chosen after two voting rounds in which the 26 SIGNIS Europe national member associations participated.

Another Year by UK based Mike Leigh took the runner-up position. In third place was Popieluszko. Wolnosc jest w nas (Popieluszko. You Can't Kill Hope) by Rafal Wieczynski from Poland; in fourth place, Un homme qui crie by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and in fifth place Mahler auf der Couch by Felix O. Adlon and Percy Adlon.

SIGNIS Europe is one of the six regions of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication and Media. Every year it awards a prize for the best European film of the year. The purpose of this prize is to promote and to create interest for those European films which emerge because of their cinematographic quality as well as for the value of the subject of the film.

In January Cardinal Seán Brady welcomed delegates from SIGNIS on their first-ever meeting in Ireland.

Source: Irish Catholic Media Office See also ICN review: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17250