"Golden Hercules" for Husein Bastouni

Husein Bastouni wins the "Golden Hercules" at the 41st Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival for his short film "Where the Jasmine Always Blooms". The prize, endowed with 3,500 euros and sponsored by, Qoncept Energy GmbH, is awarded to an outstanding film production from North Hesse. The award ceremony took place on Saturday evening (16.11.24) at the UK14 in Kassel.

The 10-minute short film "Where the Jasmine Always Blooms" (year of production: 2024) shows how a child left his home, but left his heart there. A place where there was a lot of love, life, history, diversity, dreams and future. A place that was connected with destinies, and the destinies with the place. These are now uncertain, some still hover there.

Husein Bastouni grew up on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. He left his home country in 2014 due to the war and has lived in Germany since 2015. He has been studying animation at the Kunsthochschule Kassel since 2020. In his work, Bastouni deals with his past, among other things. Themes such as war and flight are often in the foreground.

Golden Hercules - Regional Competition
The "Golden Hercules" prize, endowed with 3,500 euros, is awarded to an outstanding film production from North Hesse. In 2024, 120 films and videos were submitted for the "Golden Hercules". From the 28 films in the program, the festival's selection committee nominated 16 works from a wide variety of genres for the competition. The spectrum ranges from animated films to dedicated documentaries and experimental video works to ambitious short fiction films.

The film "Where the Jasmine Always Blooms" will be available online at DokfestOnline until November 24, 2024. Click here for the stream:
+DokfestOnline