Slaves/Slavar

An animated documentary by David Aronowitsch and Hanna Heilborn

- We were abducted my mother, father, sister and me. Then they killed my parents and separated me from my sister. 
I was five, Abuk tells us in a low voice. I stayed with one of
 the men who kidnapped us and took care of his goats. Slaves 
is about Abuk, nine, and Machiek, fifteen. Like thousands of other children they were taken by government sponsored militia in Sudan and used as slaves. They were later liberated by an organisation headed by James Aguer. Slaves is based on an interview made in 2003 and is the second film in a series of animated documentaries with and about children in difficult situations by David Aronowitsch and Hanna Heilborn, and with design by Mats Johansson/Acne Jr.


Awards
Best short documentary, the Silver Cub Award, IDFA, Amsterdam, 2008.
Special Mention, the Generation 14plus Section, Berlinale 2009.
Best Short doc. the STHLM.DOC Award, Tempo Doc. Festival,Stockholm 2009.
Best Short Animation Film Award, Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California, 2009.
Special Mention, IT’S ALL TRUE–International Documentary Film Festival, Brasil, 2009.
Best Short Documentary Award, DOXA Doc. Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada, 2009.
The Annecy Cristal for Best Short Animation and the Unicef Award at The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, June 2009.
Best Animated Short, The World Wide Short Film Fest, Toronto, Canada, June 2009
Best Documentary Short Film, The Melbourne International Film Festival, August 2009.
Best Short for Youth, the Golden Kite Award, The Int.Film Festival for Children & Youth, Buenos Aires, September 2009.
Best Film and Best Photography, Capalbio International Short Film Festival, Italy, October 2009.
First Documentary Prize at Curtocircuito, Santiago de Compostela Short Film Festival, Spain,October 2009.
Best film in the animation-program Panorama at FiFF, The Femina International Film Festival, Verdal, Norway, 2009.
Best International Animation Short at Leeds International Film Festival, UK, 2009.
Best Animation at River Film Festival in Padova, Italy, 2009.

Film Festivals 2008
Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, Malmö,  26/9-1/10
IDFA, Int. Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, 20-30/11

Film Festivals 2009
Berlinale, Generation 5-15/2
ZagrebDox 23/2-1/3
Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose 25/2-8/3
True/False Film Fest, Missouri 26/2-1/3
Tempo 4-8/3
Minimalen Short Film Festival, Trondheim 6-10/3
One World Int. Human Rights Docu Film Festival, Prague 11-19/3
Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards 13-23/3
Thessaloniki Docu Festival 13-22/3
Movies that Matter Festival, the Netherlands 15/3-10/4
It’s All True, Sao Paolo & Rio de Janeiro 25/3-5/4
Nashville Film Festival 16-23/4
ViewFinders Intl. Film Festival for Youth, Halifax 21-25/4
Visions du Réel, Nyon 23-29/4
San Francisco Int. Film Festival 23/4 - 7/5
IndieLisboa – Int. Independent Film Festival 23/4-3/5
Stuttgart Int. Festival of Animated Film 5-10/5
Planete Doc Film Festival, Warszaw 8-17/5
Doxa Int. Docu Film Festival, Vancouver 22-31/5
Seoul Human Rights Film Festival 29/5-4/6
Annecy International Animation Film Festival 10-12/6
Norwegian Short Film Festival, Grimstad, Norway 10-15/6
Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto 16-21/6
Edinburgh Int. Film Festival 17-28/6
Encounters Docu Film Festival, Cape Town 2-19/7
Seoul Int. Youth Film Festival  9-15/7
ERA New Horizons, Wroclaw, Poland 23/7-2/8
Melbourne Film Festival 24/7-9/8
Brisbane Film Festival 30/7-9/8
Int. Film Festival for Youth and Children Nueva Mirada, Buenos Aires 3-9/9
Fantoche Int. Animation Film Festival Baden/Schwitzerland 8-13/9
Animania, Cacak,  Serbia 9-12/9
Int. Best of Short Films Festival, Marseille 11-13/9
Milano Film Festival 11-20/9
Tri Continental Film Festival, South Africa 11-30/9
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 17-20/9
Buster, Copenhagen 17/9-2/10
Bangkok Int. Animation Film Festival 26-30/9
Carrousel Int. Youth Film Festival of Rimouski, Quebec 27/9-4/10
Perspektive - Human Rights Film Festival, Nürnberg 30/9-11/10
Jersey Branchage Film Festival 1-4/10
Capalbio, Italy 8-11/10
Hamptons Int. Film Festival, USA 8-12/10
Cinessone European Film Festival, Paris 9-24/10
Wiesbaden Int. Weekend of Animation 15-18/10
DOK Leipzig 26/10-1/11
Artfutura, Barcelona 29/10-1/11
Femmina Int. Film Festival, Norge 29/10-1/11
Animatic, Pamplona, Spain, Nov.
One World Slovakia, Bratislava 3-8/11
Interfilm, Berlin 3-8/11
Sheffield Doc/Fest 4-8/11
Leeds Int. Film Festival, UK 4-22/11
Alcine, Spain 6-14/11
Aarhus Film Festival, Denmark, 12-15/11
Cinemania Fest, Sofia, Bulgaria 13/11-3/12
Worldwide Short Film Festival Tour; Montreal 17/11, Calgary 26/11, Vancouver 30/11
Animated Dreams, Tallinn, Estonia 18-22/11
Int. Environmental Film Festival, Paris 18-24/11
Sottodiciotto Film Festival, Torino, Italy 26/11-5/12
Festival on Wheels, Turkey 4-20/12
Animateka Int. Animation Film Festival, Ljubljana, Slovakia 7–13/12