"The Hunt"

Each year there are hundreds of film festivals throughout the world.

Only a few are among the most important and are recognised as competitive by the international federation for film producers.

These festivals designate their official jury. They also welcome a jury from the International Film Press and, for many of them, a SIGNIS or ecumenical jury which chooses the film that will receive the prestigious Ecumenical Award .

The award was created by Christian film makers, film critics and other film professionals. Its objective is to "honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes.

The 2012 Cannes Film Festival has come and gone. But the film that won the Ecumenical Award during that festival paints a powerful portrait of man’s strength and shortcomings. It’s called “The Hunt”.

As the film producer commented when she received the film on the part of director, Thomas Vinterberg, "in this film there are no villains – only the best intentions…"

To find out more Vatican Radio's Linda Bordoni spoke to Magali Van Reeth, the general secretary of Signis in France and a member at the Ecumenical Jury of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival… I asked her first of all to tell me about the Ecumenical Prize itself.

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Van Reeth explains that the prize has been present at Cannes for almost 40 years. It has a double meaning: "showing to the world of cinema that Christians are inside this world as an expression of art but also giving a sign to Christians all over the world that cinema is very important to us to know better the world we live in, and also as a way to announce our faith, but Christian faith has always been linked to art".

Van Reeth says this particular film was chosen because it gives us a wide range of issues and discussions. It shows how violence is still so present in the modern world. It also questions what it means to be a man in Scandinavian society. It shows what is the importance of children in Western societies where families have less and less children, and children tend to be sacralised...".

Nothwithstanding a situation of despair, the film carries a strong message of hope because at the end, Lucas - the man wrongly accused of having abused a child - has an examplary behaviour throughout the film, and is finally also able to forgive the child. "It's a nice way of talking about forgiveness".