The Awards Ceremony

The Awards Ceremony of the 50th anniversary film festival Molodist took place in Kyiv on June 5.

The jury announced the winners of the competition programs, and the guests of the Ceremony watched the trailers of the winning films and listened to the performances of the invited musicians — the folk quartet DakhaBrakha and the singer and bandura player KRUTЬ.

The audience of the festival attended dozens of screenings every day; the 21 program featured 206 films.

The participants of the industry section attended 25 events — among them masterclasses from Ukrainian and world-renowned cinematographers, the first Series Pitching, the international co-production market Boat Meeting and the documentary pitching B2B Doc. The winner of the Boat Meeting was the Ukrainian project Kira’s Dream, and the winner of the first Series Pitching was the project We Part. Fellini 100 and Well-trodden Connections exhibitions also opened as part of the festival and in cooperation with the festival’s partners.

The Grand Prix of the anniversary Molodist film festival was awarded to the film Becoming Mona, directed by Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden. Best Full-Length Film award went to Celts, directed by Milica Tomović, and Best Short Film award, to Palermo Sole Nero directed by Joséphine Jouannais. Best Student Film award was shared between I Want to Return Return Return directed by Elsa Rosengren and Filipiñana directed by Rafael Manuel.

The first in the history of Molodist KIFF international Documentary Competition was won by the film Writing with Fire directed by Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas. The winner of the National Competition is 20-11-7.mp4 directed by Alina Panasenko. Eugene Jebeleanu's Poppy Field is The Best Film in the Sunny Bunny competition program. The Teen Screen award went to Spaceboy directed by Olivier Pairoux. On the final day of the festival, June 6, all the winning films of the competition programs, including the awarded films of the National Competition and some others will have repeat screenings.

GRAND PRIX

Becoming Mona. Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Niels van Koevorden. Netherlands.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Best Full-Length Film: Celts. Milica Tomović. Serbia.
Special Mention: Longing Souls. Diana Montenegro. Colombia.
Special Mention: Luzzu. Alex Camilleri. Malta.

Best Short Film: Palermo Sole Nero. Joséphine Jouannais. France.
Special Mention: Batik’s Room. Maria Khalpakhchi. Ukraine.
Special Mention: Into the Night, Kamila Tarabura. Poland.

Best Student Film: I Want to Return Return Return. Elsa Rosengren. Germany. // Filipiñana. Rafael Manuel. UK, Philippines

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Best Film: Writing with Fire. Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas. India.
Special Mention: The Metamorphosis of Birds. Catarina Vasconcelos. Portugal.
Special Mention: And I Was There. Eran Paz. Israel.

NATIONAL COMPETITION

Best Film: 20-11-7.mp4. Alina Panasenko. Ukraine.
Special Mention: Glory to Mstyslav. Maryna Nikolcheva, Maksym Vasyanovych. Ukraine.
Special Mention: Deep Water. Anna Dudko. Ukraine.
Special Mention: Paperushka. Liliia Ostapovych. Ukraine.

SUNNY BUNNY

Best Film: Poppy Field. Eugen Jebeleanu. Romania.
Special Mention: Boy Meets Boy. Daniel Sanchez Lopez. Germany.
Special Mention: Valentina. Cássio Pereira dos Santos. Brazil.

TEEN SCREEN

Best Film: Spaceboy. Olivier Pairoux. Belgium.
Best Screenplay: Glassboy, Samuele Rossi. Italy, Austria, Switzerland.
Best Soundtrack: Summer Rebels. Martina Saková. Slovakia, Germany
Best Play: The Peppercorns and the Secret of the Deep Sea. Christian Theede. Germany

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZES

Best Full-Length Film: After Love. Aleem Khan. United Kingdom.
Best Short Film: Into the Night. Kamila Tarabura. Poland.
Best Student Film: Parole. Vojtěch Novotný. Czech Republic.