Yugoslavia Takes Four Stozhary Awards

The international movie actors' festival Stozhary 1999 ended in Kyiv on October 17. The closing ceremony, attracting a large audience at the Cinematographers' House (unlike those at the Kyivska Rus movie theater when running festival films), heard the jury's verdict. The reader will recall that the jury judged not films but only actors' merits. On the other hand, if the story is weak, the cast will not make it any better, no matter how talented. Thus, no one was surprised to hear that none of the festival prizes (figurines portraying the Pleiades) went to any Ukrainian actors. Two honorary trophies were awarded to Marharyta Krynytska and Heorhy Drozd. And four would travel to Yugoslavia — three (for the best male and female supporting parts, and for music) were collected by Emir Custurica's Black Cat, White Tomcat, even though few had seen it, because the interpreter's text was made available near the end of Stozhary.

Petr Lutsik's much advertised film The Suburb (Russia) won the best debut award in the name of Aleksei Pushkin and another, for the best male part, went to Yuri Dubrovin who had to share it with Georgian Zurab Begalishvili (The Dawn is Here). The best female actress title was awarded Galina Bokashevskaya (St. Petersburg) in Vyacheslav Sorokin's Totalitarian Romance. It was her first big movie role, because previously she had appeared only in bit parts. A sad love story set in the USSR in the late 1960s, but very happy for Ms. Bokashevskaya, turning her into a star overnight.

While these prizes were awarded by an actors' jury, the awards for amateur films were determined by a jury of critics: Dusan Penec (Wounds, Yugoslavia, about modern teenagers) and the charming Agneszka Wlodarzcik starring in Poland's Sarah (the Russian version titled “A Bodyguard for My Daughter”).

Finally, an honorary award For Outstanding Dramatic Merits was presented to our own Bohdan Stupka.