We come as friends
WE COME AS FRIENDS is a modern odyssey, a dizzying, science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent's biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old 'civilizing' pathology re-emerges – that of colonialism, the clash of empires, and ever-new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources.
The director of "Darwin's Nightmare" takes us on this voyage in his tiny, self-made flying machine out of tin and canvas, he leads us into most improbable locations and into people's thoughts and dreams, in both stunning and heartbreaking ways. Chinese oil workers, UN peacekeepers, Sudanese warlords, and American evangelists ironically weave common ground in this documentary.
If "history does not repeat itself, but rhymes", the WE COME AS FRIENDS bears witness to this disquieting reality – it is a complex, profound and humorous cinematic endeavor – a tale of very old and rather sinister verses.
© KGP Filmproduktion, Adelante Film
World premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2014 (Park City, USA)
2014
Sundance Film Festival (Park City, USA)
Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery
Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
Peace Film Award
Planete+ Doc Film Festival (Warsaw, Poland)
Millennium Award
Subversive Festival (Zagreb, Croatia)
Wild Dreamer Award
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Jihlava, Czech Republic)
Best Central and Eastern European Documentary
Viennale (Vienna, Austria)
Best Documentary
European Film Academy (Berlin, Germany)
Nomination: European Film Award for Best Documentary
2015
Academy Awards (USA)
Nomination: Best Documentary
Akademie des Österreichischen Films (Austria)
Best Documentary
2014
Sundance Film Festival (Park City, USA)
Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
New Directors/New Films Festival (New York City, USA)
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (Buenos Aires, Brasil)
International Istanbul Film Festival (Istanbul, Turkey)
San Francisco International Film Festival (San Francisco, USA)
Subversive Festival (Zagreb, Croatia)
Planete+Doc Film Festival (Warsaw, Poland)
Peace & Love Film Festival (Örebro, Sweden)
RapidLion - The South African International Film Festival (Johannesburg, South Africa)
DokuFest (Prizren, Kosovo)
Milano Film Festival (Milano, Italy)
Zürich Film Festival (Zurich, Switzerland)
Kapittel International Festival of Literature and Freedom of Speech (Stavanger, Norway)
Helsinki International Film Festival (Helsinki, Finnland)
Bergen International Film Festival (Bergen, Norway)
Festival do Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)
Vancouver International Film Festival (Vancouver, Canada)
Busan International Film Festival (Busan, South Korea)
BFI London Film Festival (London, UK)
Haifa International Film Festival (Haifa, Israel)
Morelia International Film Festival (Morelia, Mexico)
Human Rights Film Festival: Inconvenient Films (Vilnius, Lithuania)
Australia International Film Festival
Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (Jihlava, Czech Republic)
CPH:DOX (Kopenhagen, Denmark)
Seville European Film Festival (Sevilla, Spain)
Cairo International Film Festival (Kairo, Egypt)
Montreal International Documentary Festival (Montreal, Canada
Ljubljana International Film Festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
IDFA: Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Viennale (Vienna, Austria)
2015
FIAC San Cristobal de las Casas (San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico)
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Movies That Matter Film Festival (The Hague, The Netherlands)
Docudays UA (Kyiv, Ukraine)
One World Romania Film Festival (Bukarest, Romania)
One World Film Festival (Prague, Czech Republic)
FEBIOFEST (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Diagonale. Festival des österreichischen Films (Graz, Austria)
Donostia - San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival (San Sebastian, Spain)
Encuentros del Otro Cine (Ecuador)
FICMEC (Spain)