Molodist’s Fall Attractions
Andrey Khalpakchi, artistic director and founder of the Molodist International Film Festival, opened a press conference dedicated to the 34th annual festival by relating an amazing incident. Kyiv’s Cinematographers’ Building (Budynok Kino) had no room for a press conference with the festival’s organizing committee because the premises were occupied by sexologists coping with pressing issues facing Ukrainians today. Now you can even buy viagra at the Budynok Kino, noted Mr. Khalpakchi, although it was impossible to find adequate equipment to avoid shocking the foreign guests at the festival with poor quality projection and sound.
This year Molodist’s competition program, which will be screened October 23-31, will as usual consist of three nominations: student films (no length limitations), first professional shorts (up to 45 minutes each), and first professional full-length films (over 60 min.). Ukrainian journalists, of course, wanted to know whether Ukraine would be represented in all the nominations. Regrettably, there will be no Ukrainian full-length films at the 34th Molodist Festival, only three student productions and three short films. The festival organizer does not consider it necessary to include his country in all nominations at all costs; in his opinion, we must submit good productions capable of competing with foreign ones, otherwise the festival won’t be doing Ukraine any favors. As for the titles of the films competing in the festival, and directors’ names, the organizing committee preferred to keep them secret (according to international rules, film titles can be made public no earlier than two weeks prior to the festival date).
True, the program was not the only mystery at the coming festival; journalists still do not know who will be heading the jury and which world stars will visit Kyiv in October (last year the Molodist administration made the mistake of inviting Sophia Loren, so now everyone expects stars of the same caliber). Andrey Khalpakchi announced that talks with the stars were still underway, and that actors like Sean Connery have been invited to the Ukrainian capital.
The Talent Campus project, launched during last year’s festival, will also be held this year, with several young film directors shooting and editing shorts during the festival. The usual programs are back this year, including Panorama of Ukrainian Cinema, Festival of Festivals, New Russian Cinema, as well as retrospective shows of the world’s prominent filmmakers, including movies starring Jean Gabin, to commemorate the actor’s centennial. This year other Molodist programs include the Indian Collection, German Boulevard, French Modern Cinema, and Polish Modern Cinema (Polish filmmakers will be represented by several programs, marking the Year of Poland in Ukraine, specifically Jerzy Hoffman’s documentaries). Among the festival’s outstanding events will be a soiree dedicated to Anna Sten, who embarked on her career in Ukraine. Most of the films at this year’s film festival will have public screenings, including hors concours programs to be held in the Kyivan cinemas Zhovten, Kyiv, Ukrayina, etc. (Last year 120,000 people attended the festival). The 34th Molodist International Film Festival will also feature a ground-breaking attempt to organize the first film market for Ukrainian distributors; the latter will be shown new Polish productions at the Odesa Kino movie theater, and will be able to buy them directly from the producers, bypassing high-powered Russian distributors.
