46th Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival

The 46 th Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist was held on October 22 – 30, 2016. The festival continues to be one of the most important cinematic events in Eastern Europe due to the fact the IFF Molodists gives a chance to debut feature films to compete. This means that many aspiring young artists from all over the world, some of them fresh film schools graduates, get the unique opportunity to present their works to audiences and get a glimpse of the themes and aesthetics that inspire their peers.

For many years Molodist IFF accepted in competition only films, shot on 35mm, but recently the festival has changed its regulations, and now movies, shot in digital formats, are also eligible, which gives the competition program more diversity. In addition to classic Kyiv IFF Molodist competition sections, such as first feature full-length films, debut shorts and the student films, for a few years already there has been established a National Competition Program. The screenings of new Ukrainian films were overcrowded and the wide palette of genres, cinematic techniques and themes showed that young Ukrainian directors are now more professionally prepared and more interested in everyday life and contemporary stories.

A short film, Blood sausage (Krovyanka), directed by Arkady Nepytaliuk, got the main prize in the National Competition section. The movie is a perfect illustration of Billy Wilder’s thought that “if you want to tell the audience something serious, you should fully cover it with chocolate”. In a very delicate and comic manner Nepitaliuk tells about prejudices and lack of hospitality of the portrayed villagers toward big city newcomers, as well as towards different cultures and religions. The director manages to combine true drama with a sharp sense of humour thanks to his very light way of telling the story.

This year Kyiv IFF Molodist international jury consisted of film directors DenisCôté and Grimur Hakonarson, producer Mahammad Atebbai, script-writer and director Ben Sharrock and film expert Alik Shpillyuk. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Polish feature film “The Last family” (Ostatniarodzina) directed by Jan P. Matuszynski. Both festival audience and the jury were stunned by game of imagination and reality, by the interaction of true facts and their artistic interpretation.

The closing ceremony of the festival turned out to be a touching tribute to the great Polish director Andrzej Wajda who passed away on October 9 th , 2016: there was a Ukrainian premiere of his last film Afterimage (Powidoki). Wajda, whose film is about the Polish avant- garde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski, told the audience very clearly that freedom is not only an important thing to fight for, but is a way of thinking, the way we live our everyday life, which determines our capability of taking responsibility for our actions.

Two of the numerous non-competition programs of Kyiv IFF Molodist should be definitely mentioned: the first is Hungarian Rhapsody, dedicated to the anniversary of dramatic revolutionary events of 1956, and was introduced by the famous Hungarian director MártaMészáros. The second program is Lithuanian Focus, which for the first time in the history of the Molodist festival, presented on Kyiv big screen both classic and modern Lithuanian films.

Even such a cursory view of the festival programs proves that Molodist tends to preserve its classic structure yet remains opened to fresh ideas and new non-competition sections. Being an old and established forum for film debuts, Kyiv IFF Molodist is still young and the organizers are already looking forward its 47 th edition in autumn of 2017. (Nadia Zavarova, edited by Christina Stojanova)

Festival: www.molodist.com

The 46 th Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist was held on October 22 – 30, 2016. The
festival continues to be one of the most important cinematic events in Eastern Europe due to
the fact the IFF Molodists gives a chance to debut feature films to compete. This means that
many aspiring young artists from all over the world, some of them fresh film schools
graduates, get the unique opportunity to present their works to audiences and get a glimpse of
the themes and aesthetics that inspire their peers.
For many years Molodist IFF accepted in competition only films, shot on 35mm, but recently
the festival has changed its regulations, and now movies, shot in digital formats, are also
eligible, which gives the competition program more diversity. In addition to classic Kyiv IFF
Molodist competition sections, such as first feature full-length films, debut shorts and the
student films, for a few years already there has been established a National Competition
Program. The screenings of new Ukrainian films were overcrowded and the wide palette of
genres, cinematic techniques and themes showed that young Ukrainian directors are now
more professionally prepared and more interested in everyday life and contemporary stories.
A short film, Blood sausage (Krovyanka), directed by Arkady Nepytaliuk, got the main prize
in the National Competition section. The movie is a perfect illustration of Billy Wilder’s
thought that “if you want to tell the audience something serious, you should fully cover it with
chocolate”. In a very delicate and comic manner Nepitaliuk tells about prejudices and lack of
hospitality of the portrayed villagers toward big city newcomers, as well as towards different
cultures and religions. The director manages to combine true drama with a sharp sense of
humour thanks to his very light way of telling the story.
This year Kyiv IFF Molodist international jury consisted of film directors DenisCôté and
Grimur Hakonarson, producer Mahammad Atebbai, script-writer and director Ben Sharrock
and film expert Alik Shpillyuk. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Polish feature film “The
Last family” (Ostatniarodzina) directed by Jan P. Matuszynski. Both festival audience and
the jury were stunned by game of imagination and reality, by the interaction of true facts and
their artistic interpretation.
The closing ceremony of the festival turned out to be a touching tribute to the great Polish
director Andrzej Wajda who passed away on October 9 th , 2016: there was a Ukrainian
premiere of his last film Afterimage (Powidoki). Wajda, whose film is about the Polish avant-
garde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski, told the audience very clearly that freedom is not only an
important thing to fight for, but is a way of thinking, the way we live our everyday life, which
determines our capability of taking responsibility for our actions.
Two of the numerous non-competition programs of Kyiv IFF Molodist should be definitely
mentioned: the first is Hungarian Rhapsody, dedicated to the anniversary of dramatic
revolutionary events of 1956, and was introduced by the famous Hungarian director
MártaMészáros. The second program is Lithuanian Focus, which for the first time in the
history of the Molodist festival, presented on Kyiv big screen both classic and modern
Lithuanian films.
Even such a cursory view of the festival programs proves that Molodist tends to preserve its
classic structure yet remains opened to fresh ideas and new non-competition sections. Being
an old and established forum for film debuts, Kyiv IFF Molodist is still young and the
organizers are already looking forward its 47 th edition in autumn of 2017. (Nadia Zavarova)