Gold for absurd

Results of the 42th International Film Festival “Molodist” could hardly be predicted. The international jury of Zoltan Kamondi (head of the jury), Theodore Ushev, Boris Khlebnikov, Harutyun Khachatryan, and Natalia Sumska gave the Grand Prix – a statuette of “Golden Scythian Deer” and a certificate for 80,000 hryvnias to the Greek film director Babis Makridis for his absurd comedy L – the most mysterious and yet most formally perfect film in the feature films competition.

In the international feature films competition dashing youth film Gimme the Loot directed by Adam Leon from the USA won the Grand Prix (a diploma and a certificate for 2,500 dollars). The jury awarded special awards to Ty Hickson for his role in this film and Begum Akkaya for acting work in the drama Kuma (director Umut Dag, Austria).

The best short film of the international festival became the film Oh, Willy… (directed by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels, Belgium-France-Netherlands). It received a diploma and a certificate for 2,500 dollars. Jury diplomas in this category went to the film Human Factor (directed by Thibault LeTexier, France), for the most profound portrayal of crisis; Circus (directed by Pablo Remon, Spain), for the funniest film about crisis.

The prize for the Best Student Film was divided between two winners: Return (directed by Shay Levi, Israel) and The Road To… (directed by Taisia Igumentseva, Russia). The prize is a Jury diploma and a certificate for 1,250 dollars. Jury diplomas (Special Mentions) were awarded to: Without Snow (directed by Magnus von Horn, Poland) – for describing teenage problems, I’m a Self-Made Woman (directed by Sonja Tarokic, Croatia) – for precision and observation, and Wanda & Marlene (directed by Judith Beuth, Germany) – for courage.

The Best Film of the National Competition, which is held autonomously and has its own jury, is Independence Day directed by a Ukrainian film director Antonina Noiabriova.

Jury diplomas (Special Mentions) were awarded to the film Between 20 and Midnight (directed by Denis Spolitak, Ukraine) for sincerity of a sentimental expression and inventiveness in search for artistic forms and to the film Hamburg (directed by Volodymyr Tykhy, Ukraine) for smart laconicism in diagnosing a state of human nature.

The abovementioned short film Oh Willy… was awarded with a diploma of Ecumenical Jury. The same award went to the Dutch film director Sacha Polak for his feature film Hemel.

Jury of the International Federation of Film Critics – FIPRESCI awarded its prize to the film A Beautiful Valley by Hadar Friedlich (Israel-France).

Finally, the film A Furtive Tear by Carlo Vogele (USA) scored the most points in the competition for the Audiences’s award. Now the film crew will have an EOS D60 camera from Canon in Ukraine.

The 42th Molodist Film Festival featured 280 films from more than 50 countries this year.

Read about more details of the results of the festival in the next issues of The Day.