Voices of Bam

Ever since the earthquake of December 2003, Bam in Southern Iran is nothing but rubble and ruin. Not only have its walls crumbled, exposing kitchens and courtyards, the hearts of its people too, appear to have fallen open. Like a ghost, the camera drifts through the town, recording the everyday events of Bam’s inhabitants and picking up the intimate, inner conversations they have with their dear departed. In doing so, the film also touches upon the relationship between men and women in Iran and their relationship to God. Above all, ‘Voices of Bam’ is an ode to the indefatigable life-force embodied by the people of this town. The film is inspired by photographs that were recovered from the town’s debris…the only tangible mementoes left of life before the earthquake.

The Interreligious Jury awards its prize to Voices of Bam by Aliona van der Horst and Maasja Ooms for reminding us, that after the news cameras have gone, natural disasters leave behind shattered lives to rebuild, difficult questions about God, and decisions to be made, physical and ethical tasks to endure, and losses to be mourned and remembered, as life goes on. The film impressed the jury by its artistic use of photos and voices which bring the dead back to us. (Jury report NYON.)