The Ukrainian feature film “Stop-Zemlia” won the highest award in the youth section of the 71st Berlin International Film Festival.
One of the world’s most influential cinematic events, also known as Berlinale, announced the news on its website on May 26.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s festival was held online in March. However, the organizers plan to hold in-person screenings of the winning films and bestow awards to their crews in June.
“Stop-Zemlia” (“Stop-Earth” in Ukrainian) earned the Crystal Bear award for Best Film in the Generation 14plus competition program, which targets cinephiles under the age of 18.
The film is a coming-of-age drama set in Kyiv that tells the story of a 16-year-old Masha and her friends navigating the growing pains into early adulthood.
It is a full-length feature directorial debut of Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Kateryna Hornostay who was also behind the drama’s script. The film stars non-professional teenage actors whom the director met and worked with at an acting laboratory in 2019.
The winner of the Generation 14plus block was selected by a jury consisting of seven young filmmakers, who had agreed that the film “convincingly covers a variety of important topics,” which appeal to young people.
“Platonic love, queerness, solidarity and psychological stress reinforce the effect of the film as an authentic coming-of-age story. By virtue of creative visualization techniques, it becomes clear in an artistic manner how our generation dreams, feels and experiences life,” the jury wrote on the festival’s website. “The message is conveyed that it is part of life to face certain fears in order to be able to enjoy the most exciting years of youth,” it added.
The production of “Stop-Zemlia” was partially funded by Ukraine’s State Film Agency. The film received Hr 20.5 million from the government, which covered nearly 80% of its overall budget.
The drama will be shown in cinemas in Berlin from June 9 to 20, and is set to release in Ukraine during the second half of 2021.
