Film by Israeli director wins Molodist film festival
The Molodist film festival, taking place in Kyiv from Oct. 20 through Oct. 28, has named its winners. Its main award, the Grand Prix, and a money prize of $10,000 was awarded to the film “The Band’s Visit,” by Israeli director Eran Korilin, about an Egyptian orchestra that by chance appeared in a derelict Israeli village. The award was presented to the winners by French actor Gerard Depardieu.
The award for Best Feature Film was won by “Wholetrain,” from the debutant German director Florian Gaag, who received the $2,500 in prize money and the award from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev. “Wholetrain,” which is about a teenage graffiti team, also received the Viewers Award which brought its creator an additional 1,000 euros.
“Arka,” by Polish director Grzegorz Jonkajtys, was awarded Best Short, and the prize for the Best Student Film of $2,500 was awarded to “Heart is Breaking,” by Norwegian Anna Sevitsky. “California Dreamin’,” by Romanian director Cristian Nemescu, who tragically died in a car crash this year, received a special prize from the jury. Previously, Nemescu’s work also received the FIPRESCI prize.
The award ceremony was held in the form of a banquet. Having received their awards, the winners were seated at a table and celebrated their victory in front of the audience.
The jury this year was headed by legendary Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, while some of the other expected celebrity guests, such as Fanny Ardan and Uma Thurman, didn’t show up. In fact, Ardan has already come to Kyiv before. As for Uma Thurman, it was easy to tell from the start that her appearance in Kyiv was highly unlikely, but the organizers insisted Kyivans should hope to receive her, and always hopeful, we bought it again.
