Between Pinky and Princess

The final night of the 45th Molodist was quite well-directed (which was probably caused in part by a lower level of official presence compared to the opening), beginning with a potpourri of silent films played to the accompaniment of a live piano and ending with art house animated film Anomalisa, directed by Charlie Kaufman, known as one of the most talented American filmmakers.

The night’s program included also a musical piece from the Kiev Tango Project ensemble, performances by bandura player Taras Kompaniiets, and duo of Luhansk poet Liubov Yakymchuk and jazz bassist Yurii Tokar, and of course, the announcement of the winners.

The biggest surprise was the success of Israeli film Princess (director Tali Shalom-Ezer), a regular youth melodrama, which nonetheless received the Grand Prix and 10,000 dollars in cash from the generous main jury. Meanwhile, the division of the prize for the best feature-length film between Pikadero (Ben Sharrock, UK-Spain) and Ixcanul (Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala-France) and additional encouragements to both (the FIPRESCI Prize for Pikadero and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury for Ixcanul) looked quite fair, because these two completely dissimilar pictures – one an ironic comedy in the scenery of post-crisis Europe, and another a drama full of a distant land’s exotic and bizarre rituals – had no equals in their creators’ development of the visual language. With no less success, however, the Grand Prix itself might have been divided between the two.

Another pleasant surprise was the female lead in the national competition, where 23 Ukrainian short films competed with each other. The jury, headed by Roman Balaian, awarded special diplomas to Olesia Morhunets-Isaienko’s Violoncello for the script and Maryna Stepanska’s Man’s Work for the cast, while an unconditional triumph awaited 26-year-old Kyivan documentary filmmaker Kateryna Hornostai of the Euromaidan fame (she did, for example, a wonderful sketch of the revolutionary events called Lenin’s Teeth): her first feature film Away brought here a Scythian Deer statuette, a certificate for 2,500 dollars, and a few airline tickets with open destinations. Away is a lyrical sketch, perfect of form: it films in one take an 11-minute scene between a boy and a girl who lie in bed and try to understand why their relationship stalled, just as sounds of older generation’s quarrels come from behind the door.

The short competition’s winner is Pinky (Tomasz Cichon, Poland), the student competition was won by Discipline, directed by Christophe M.     Saber (Switzerland), and the winner of the Sunny Bunny competition – that is, a display of LGBT-themed movies – was Sworn Virgin, directed by Laura Bispuri, Italy-Switzerland-Germany-Albania-Kosovo; it should be noted that this film was shot in conservative Muslim countries (Albania and Kosovo). Finally, the main prize and 2,500 dollars cash award of the relatively new competition Molodist for Kids, which was launched in 2013 and has only 8- to 14-year-old children on its jury, went to adventure film Operation Arctic, directed by Grethe Boe-Waal, Norway.

After the award ceremony, we asked Kateryna Hornostai to say a few words about her film.

Why did you chose this form?

“I did not want to resort to montages, but rather sought to film the entire movie, all 11 minutes in one take. It was kind of experimental. We filmed it for just two days, doing one take until we had it done. We have recently completed another feature film, but there was no take in it which would be totally to my liking, so it will have to be montaged. While making Away, however, I was able to make a take where there was a certain continuity of the moment.”

How would you assess the national competition?

“The competition was very strong, so I felt a great responsibility. Films were cool, we have all got acquainted with each other.”

In your opinion, has the Ukrainian cinema overcome its unwillingness to show the human body?

“I think that we are still on the way to it... But the sexiest scenes in cinema actually have nothing to do with sex as such.”