MOLODIST KIFF ANNOUNCES THE PROGRAM OF THE 51st FESTIVAL
Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival announces the program of the 51st edition that will take place in the capital of Ukraine from December 1 to December 7, 2022.
Despite the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine, the team decided to hold the festival in the new circumstances. Although the total number of films will be significantly lower than at the 50th Molodist edition, we managed to keep almost all the main KIFF programs: full-length, short, and student sections of International Competition, National Competition, and non-competition Ukrainian Premieres, Festival of festivals, program of LGBTQI+ themed Sunny Bunny films, Midnight Screening, 4MA: FORMA, Scandinavian Panorama, 100: Century.
The International Competition will feature full-length films, in particular, Ukrainian films: “Me and Felix” directed by Iryna Tsilyk; “Slovo House. An endless novel” by Taras Tomenko; as well as “Butterfly vision” by Maxym Nakonechny that won the National Competition of the Odesa International Film Festival, which was held in October as part of the Warsaw International Film Festival; “Pamphir” by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk that recently received a nomination for the European Film Academy Award for Best Debut and 5 awards of the Kinokolo National Film Critics Award and a special award of the Molodist National Competition, held at the Hamburg Film Festival. In addition to them, five foreign films will participate in the competition of full-length feature debut films: “Silent land” by Polish director Aga Voshchynska; “The Noise of Engines” by Canadian Philippe Gregoire; “Small body” by Italian Laura Samani; “The Sleeping Negro” by American Skinner Myers and “The Cage And The Dream” by Brazilian Valerio Fonseca.
The program of the International Competition also includes short film section and the student section. The award for Best Debut Short Film will go to one of six films by film directors from Tunisia, Belgium, Greece, Cambodia, France, and Australia. 7 more short films will take part in the student competition, including two films by Ukrainian directors: “Glorious Revolution” by Masha Novikova and “Well, You Are a Fool, Lisa” by Oleksandr Konoplia.
The Program Department of the film festival gave the following comment on the films selected for competition:
“Molodist International Competition traditionally features the best, most interesting debut works from all over the world, and it has a special place for Ukrainian films. This year, the festival doesn’t require a premiere status, so we are able to highlight the national cinema, which is now under threat and needs our support more than ever. However, these films are significant not only in the Ukrainian context but also among international films: they are manifestations of the talents of new directors who have already declared themselves and are powerful voices of the Ukrainian cultural community.”
Oleksandr Konoplia’s film “Well, You Are a Fool, Lisa”, which takes part in the student competition, was also included in the short film section of the National Competition and 11 more films will be shown as part of the program. Let us recall that the National Competition of the 51st Molodist edition was held as part of the Hamburg Film Festival: the best feature film was “Stop-Earth” by Kateryna Hornostay, and the best short film was “Leopolis Night” by Nikon Romanchenko.
The non-competition program films will be screened in addition to the competition program. It was important for Molodist to continue to cherish the richness and diversity of film viewing experiences, which for more than half a century have helped shape the taste of both festival visitors and Ukrainian cinematographers. You can get acquainted with the European Nordic style at the Scandinavian Panorama screenings, get inspired by an experimental view at 4MA: FORMA, re-discover the classics of cinema at 100: Century, imitate the late viewing of dark films at the Midnight screening forgotten due to the curfew, and, of course, enjoy the LGBTQI+ themed films with Sunny bunny.
Molodist KIFF has always provided an opportunity to join the World Festival life — the Festival of festivals program includes films that recently caused a lot of noise and were met with applause on the main foreign film sites. The list of films in this program will be expanded, but now we are excited to recommend you the Bolivian beauty of “Utama”, the family-existential reflection in “Vera”, and the search for male identity in “War horse”.
The festival will also host premieres of Ukrainian films out of competition: “Pokut” directed by Andriy Kokura and “Love, Luka” by Vladyslav Marysyk. Viewers will be able to watch a total of more than 60 films in the program of the 51st Molodist KIFF. The festival will be held exclusively offline — the venue for screenings, the competition jury, as well as the ticket system will be announced later. Stay tuned for more updates about the 51st Molodist on our pages on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.
Artistic director of the festival Andriy Khalpakhchi told about his work on the 51st Molodist edition:
“First of all, I am happy that the festival will take place in such a turbulent and difficult time and the audience will be able to enjoy the films in full traditional programs, that our team was determined to preserve as a matter of principle. Yes, the circumstances also affected us, I have to admit that it would be impossible and at least strange to hold the Molodist festival of the same magnitude as in previous years. Of course, we want to devote more time to the cinematic component, events, and discussions, but now we have to think about air raid alarms and blackouts. But we will not complain — we do what we consider necessary for the development of our cinema and culture in general. Therefore, I would like to express my deep respect and gratefulness to all our partners and among them the Office of the President of Ukraine, who supported us and made Molodist possible in one of the most difficult years in the history of our state.”