Alessandro Cassigoli, Italian, and Dalia Castel, Israeli, are the Prize Winners, with the film “Good Times”, dealing with the conflict between Israel and Palestine and erecting of a wall in the village of Abu Dis.

How did you come to the decision to make such a film?

ALESSANDRO: We wanted to make a film about the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation through the years of 2003/2004. So we went there and tried to find an interesting story. But in the end it was all so frustrating that we did not manage to find what we were looking for. Therefore we decided to do the exactly contrary thing. We found the small village Abu Dis and kept recording almost each day during three months. The things were coming to us by themselves, it was magical.

DALIA: Actually we have always wished to deal with big political issues…

ALESSANDRO: Yes. We read a lot about these things in the papers, but we do not understand all of it. We think that it is not the real truth. We prefer our truth, the one we get from the people working in the shops, gas stations and so on.

How did you two come together – an Israeli and an Italian?

ALESSANDRO: Dalia came to Italy some years ago to work as an editor. The job introduced us to each other, we both like documentaries and we decided to invest money into films. So we made our first documentary in 2002. We went to Festivals and decided to continue making documentaries which will express ourselves.

Have you got any new projects planned?

ALESSANDRO: Yes. We are working on a project whose action takes place in a small village 60 kms distant from Berlin , which, in the time of East Germany , was surrounded by Russian nuclear and military plants. When the war finished everything changed, and instead of the nuclear plant the citizensbuilt a false tropical island. In fact it is a story about changes.

What are your impressions about Široki Brijeg and the Festival?

ALESSANDRO: We like Hercegovina a lot. It was a great surprise for us since we have never been here before. In the course of the documentary projection, though it has been presented many times worldwide, we felt as a part of the audience, we laughed together with them.

How much does the prize mean to you?

DALIA: Besides having fun all these days, this valuable Prize will be an encouragement for our further work. We always work with our own resources since we still have not got a large production.

ALESSANDRO: Actually this is a high quality ending of a project, and a start of a new one.

DALIA: Yes, and this is our first award.

How will you agree upon the issue of who will keep the Crystal Projector?

DALIA: It will remain with me ofcourse! (laugh)