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By the Name of Tania

Documentary, 2019, 75 min.

Based upon real testimonies, this hybrid film tells the story of Tania, a teenage girl forced into prostitution in the gold mining regions of Peru. Tania remembers how she was taken from her home seduced by false promises of wealth and riches and how she was driven into slavery and prostitution. While sharing her story with a police officer, Tania's voice make us dive within her memory and surf from one moment to another. While she revisits her ordeal, the camera takes us on a journey from the jungle to the mining region, from Tania's home where her grandmother died to the heart of her exploitation in the prostitution bars. The Amazon's beautiful scenery, the floating slums and the jungle are in sharp contrast with the darkness of the story, the poverty and the poignant testimony of a young girl. And though she is now safe, where her youth like sense of worthiness and innocence once shined, a deeper and darker self-knowledge has settled in. The feverish rush for gold, the wrecking of the environment and the exploitation of humans echoes as an allegory for the destruction of the fragile life in a contemporary world. For this subtle narration, the filmmakers created the main character of Tania from a deep research into dozens of stories of girls laboured into prostitution. The shooting took place in the actual locations mingling the characters to real life situations. The images were filmed by the talented Virginie Surdej whose work on Insyriated by Philippe Van Leeuw (GP Berlinale 2017) received top awards in Belgium. The film was edited by Marie-Hélène Dozo, and the sound edit was in the hands of David Vranken.

won prizes

  • DE - Berlin International Film Festival Generation selection

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NL films on Film festivals 2019