The Molodist 2007 fest offers lots of treats for local film buffs
The 37th Molodist (“Youth”) International Film Festival is being be held in Kyiv from Oct. 20 to 28. As usual, many great films, as well as respected actors and filmmakers, including Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardan, Kshishtof Zanussi and, even Uma Turman, are expected at the festival this year. The number of non-competition films has reached 30, which means that real film buffs will have to simply abandon work and sleep during the fest and keep running from one cinema to another, so as not to miss any worthy premieres.
This year’s Molodist will open with “Duska,” a new work by legendary Dutch director Jos Stelling. Duska is a Dutch-Russian-Ukrainian co-production and was partly shot in Kyiv, with Ukrainian crew and cast, and with the starring role played by famous Kyiv-born Russian actor Serhiy Makovetskiy. The Kyiv showing will be the film’s international premiere, presented by Jos Stelling himself, actors Sergiy Makovetsky and Gene Bervoets (famous for his leading roles in Stelling’s previous works “Waiting Room,” “Flying Dutchman,” “No Trains No Planes” and others), as well as Dutch and Russian film producers Hans de Weers, Hans de Wolf, Erwin Godschalk and Yevgeniy Gindilis.
The main international jury at Molodist this year will be headed by legendary Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of the most eminent personas in the world of cinema. Author of several famous films, including “Kandahar,” “Gabbeh,” “A Moment of Innocence,” and “Silence,” Makhmalbaf has been nominated and awarded at the most prestigious international film festivals: at Cannes, Venice, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, and the European Film Awards. This year Makhmalbaf, also famous for his literature, teaching activities and support for young cinematographers, will present the retrospective of his films in Kyiv and judge the competition sections together with other members of the international jury: Grazina Arlickaite (Lithuania), director of Vilnius Film Festival; Frederic Sichler (France), general director of StudioCanal; Moritz de Hadeln (Switzerland), founder and director (from 1969 to 1980) of the International Festival of Documentary Film in Nyon, and director of the Locarno Film Festival (from 1972 to 1977), Berlin Film Festival (from 1980 to 2001), and Venice Film Festival (in 2002-2003).
Traditionally, more than 60 of the best debuts of the year will be selected for the three competition categories: Student, First Professional Shorts and First Feature Films. This year films from more than 25 countries have been selected, while Ukraine will be represented by two shorts, “Prybluda” (“The Stray”) by Valeriy Yamburskiy, and “Na Grani” (“On The Edge”), by Artem Sukharev, as well as the student film “Khto Taka Tanya?” (“Who Is Tanya?”), by Vitya Gurov. Moreover, numerous special events will be held as usual within the framework of Molodist: special film showings, cinematographic evenings and presentations. One such event will be a photography exhibition of Isabelle Huppert, held with the support of Institut Francais d’Ukraine. This exhibition is part of the international exposition “Isabelle Huppert – Woman In Portraits” (“Isabelle Huppert – La Femme Aux Portraits”), which collected 120 of actress’s portraits, made by 75 of the most internationally recognized photographers whose number include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Peter Lindberg and Helmut Newton.
Various cinemas. From Oct. 20 to Oct. 28. For more information go to www.molodist.com
