There was enough cinema for everyone

The 28th edition of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad ended in Minsk

The Minsk International Film Festival was opened with a Russian film, and closed with a Russian one. The general impression of the programme of the main feature film competition was formed by the jury members in the first days of the festival, so it would hardly be possible for any film to change it drastically (as it already happened at the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad). Accordingly, there was no intrigue: The Grand Prix ‘Golden Listapad’ for Best Film went to Pyotr Todorovsky’s latest work Healthy Man. Interestingly, 24 years ago, the main prize of the film festival was taken to Moscow by the father of the current winner, the famous filmmaker Valery Todorovsky. 

Familial ties 

The central plot of the 28th edition of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad was already formed in its slogan — true values won both on the screen and at the closing ceremony of the film festival. Star life on the red carpet was supported by People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Shakurov, Honored Artist Irina Pegova and all their colleagues in the New Year’s comedy Olivier Salad directed by Andrei Nikiforov and Igor Chetverikov. The film, partially filmed in the pavilions of Belarusfilm, was presented by the artists at the Tsentralny cinema on the eve of the closing ceremony. In the centre of the plot is a once-friendly family, whose members, for various reasons, have moved away from each other. On the eve of the New Year, they all gather together in the parental home — mainly in order to express claims and listen, respectively, to mutual grievances. The history is modern, but the problems it raises are eternal, Sergey Shakurov emphasises, “We have everything, as by Turgenev: fathers and children. And these problems and questions will be relevant in 100 years, and in 200. Olivier Salad is a family picture. I want parents to sit their children down and watch it all together. Thus, maybe they would see themselves and think. Today’s children, alas, are very cruel. Not like, for example, in my childhood. I was the fourth child in the family and I remember how we all feared and idolised the older generation at the same time. Now children are not afraid of anything, they can even send one to hell... We expose these problems. But I don’t want to teach anyone. My task is simple: to make a decent movie.”
As for the decisions of the jury members, the prizes were given to everyone who was able to revive and update the artistic concept of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad 2022. The jury headed by the well-known domestic animator Igor Volchek recognised the film Black Slide by Israeli director Uri Lotan as the Best Animated Film for Children, and the surrealistic philosophical parable Goodbye Jerome! from French animators Adam Sillard, Gabrielle Selnet and Chloe Farr. The members of the jury awarded the Iranian film The Fourth Wall with a special prize.

   

From Minsk with love 

The Grand Prix in the Documentary Films category was predictably won by Anna Yanovskaya’s film Fire about the journey of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem to the northern Yakut villages. The director took the stage personally for the award. But the special jury prize for the Prebilovtsy — Even Stones Have Scars There film instead of the director Sanya Dragichevich Babich was given to the well-known Serbian actress, an old friend of the festival, Ivana Zhigon. Audience Choice Award, as expected, went to the Holy Archipelago by Sergei Debizhev. He came to Minsk together with the producer of the picture (and his wife) Natalya Debizheva. By the way, two months earlier, Holy Archipelago won in the same Documentary Films category at the 44th Moscow International Film Festival. Two awards for director Ruoxin Yin at the festival at once speak of the high level of Chinese cinema. Her social drama Sister, which participated in the main feature film competition, won not only the Audience Award, but also a Diploma for the Best Director. The jury chaired by Dmitry Astrakhan unanimously declared Anton Gromov, who worked on the Achrome film, the best cameraman of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad 2022. The Russian actress Svetlana Chuikina, the star of the You Can’t Cry thriller by Natalia Nazarova, also won the award. She received the Best Actress award primarily for the artistic power of the film and the acting depth revealed in it. 
“Our film is about love. About what happens to people when their love is taken away. About the strongest, brightest and life-affirming feeling that we all need today more than ever,” Svetlana Chuikina believes. The jury members also appreciated the work of 18-year-old Oleg Chugunov, who played with Pyotr Todorovsky in Healthy Man. Before the start of the screening of the film at the Tsentralny cinema, the artist was deeply moved, unable to restrain his emotions — he was so touched by the reception of the Minsk public. At the closing ceremony of the festival, Chugunov was recognised the Best Actor. Nonetheless, the judges called Zere by director from Kazakhstan Dauren Kamshibaev the film, which is not only pleasant to watch, but also to listen to. He has a Prize for the Best Musical Arrangement. A special award from the Minsk City Executive Committee was given to the work Classics and Chess by the Belarusian director Nataliya Kostyuchenko. The Special Award of Cinematographers to sound engineer was presented to sound engineer Viktor Mors by the ‘mother’ of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad (as the Director General of the Belarusfilm National Film Studio Vladimir Karachevsky called her) Valentina Stepanova, the former Chairman of the Creative Sections of the Union of Cinematographers, who was responsible for organising and holding the festival for many years. 
“This year, it is especially felt that the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad is returning to its roots, the concept that was laid down in the 1990s by Rostislav Yankovsky and Viktor Turov. And this cannot but rejoice,” Valentina Stepanova noted.


Recently, Belarusfilm signed two agreements. The first — with the Lendok documentary film studio in St. Petersburg on the creation of a non-fiction film dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Belarusian cinema. The second — with the famous Uzbek actor Ulugbek Kadirov, who will play the main role in a joint Belarusian-Uzbek film about the Hero of the Soviet Union Mamadali Topvaldiev.

By Yuliana Leonovich
Photos by Daria Titova, BELTA