5th Eko International Film Festival Ends With Maria Blumencron's "Jesus and the Vanished Women"

The expository documentary film "Jesus and the Vanished Women" (Jesus und die verschwundenen Frauen) closed the 5th annual Eko International Film Festival Sunday night at the Silverbird Cinemas, Silverbird Galleria on Victoria Island, Lagos. It was one of the three special films from makido Film of Vienna in German and dubbed in English for English audiences. The other two makido films included "Diplomatic Liaisons - Mistresses of the Vienna Congress - Sex, Lies and Diplomacy"(Der Wiener Kongress und die Macht der Frauen) by Monika Czernin, Melissa Müller and The Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers and Volunteers During National Socialism" (Die Gerechten unter den Völkern. Retter und Helfer im Nationalsozialismus), a very powerful documentary by Andrea Morgenthaler. A timeless memorial tribute to "honor those who stood by the Jews in their darkest hour" during the Holocaust. It followed the 1963 Yad Vashem worldwide program to find and pay tribute to those who had rescued Jews, calling them the “Righteous Among the Nations".  
The exceptional biographies of Dorothea Neff, Franz Leitner, Jaroslawa Lewicki, Esther Grinberg-Boissevain, and the Helmrich couple demonstrate how it was possible even under the most adverse circumstances to show humanity and sympathy.

Maria Blumencron.
 

"Jesus and the Vanished Women "(Jesus und die verschwundenen Frauen) is written and directed by famous award winning Austrian actress, filmmaker and author Maria Blumencron, whose film endorses Feminist theology.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene are possibly the names that spring to one's mind first when thinking of Jesus of Nazareth. In the gospels and epistles of the New Testament, the women around Jesus play a very special role, which, over the course of Church history has been repressed. It was the women, Jesus' female disciples, according to the gospels, who remained true to Jesus in his most difficult hours on the cross and who were the first to bear witness to his resurrection. Women such as the deaconess and abbess, Phoebe of Cenchreae, or the apostle, Junia, were the equals of the other (male) disciples, led communities, were apostles just like the Twelve. Who were the women with whom Jesus of Nazareth surrounded himself? What were his relationships with them? And what role did they play in the imitation of Christ, in the first Christian communities?

The closing ceremony ended with closing remarks and cocktail reception. The special guests who graced the event included accomplished Nigerian filmmakers Lancelot Imasuen, Ralp Nwadike, Francis Onwoche, Chike Ibekwe, Victor Okhai, Amaka Anioji and others. They all met with Nicole Polsterer of makido Film and Nella Hengstler, Commercial Counsellor at the Austrian Embassy in Nigeria who represented the ambassador. makido Film is working on co-productions with Nigerian film filmmakers for the "Time for Africa" projects and international film distribution for Nigerian films in Europe.

 ~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of Nigerians Report Online and author "Children of Heaven", "Scarlet Tears of London", "Bye, Bye Mugabe", "In the House of Dogs", "The Prophet Lied", "Diary of the Memory Keeper" and other books.



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