VKRATZE! 2022: Competition Results Announced

The closing ceremony of VKRATZE! 2022 Days of Short Films took place in the Volgograd Planetarium on December 18. The winners of fiction, documentary, animation, and children’s programs were announced. The ceremony ended with a live performance by Bluesway band (vocalist: Olga Nasyrova, Volgograd).

The audience and the international jury watched 61 competition program films from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, France, and Portugal. The awards were distributed as follows.

International Competition:

Best Fiction Film – Half-Meter (China, 2022, Director: Zebang Yang)

Special Jury Mention for Magical Artistic Style – Street Light (Russia, 2021, Director: Vladislav Ikonnikov)

Best Male Performance – Artemiy Akhremchuk as Ginger, Friend (Belarus, 2021, Director: Andrey Svetlov)

Best Female Performance – Setia Asadi as Girl, The Savior (Iran, 2021, Director: Soheila Pourmohammadi)

Special Jury Mention for Authentic Performance – Ilya Antonov as Ilyuha, Ilyuha (Russia, 2022, Director: Grigory Selyanov)

Best Documentary Film – I Won’t Remain Alone (Iran, 2022, Director: Yaser Talebi)

Best Animated Film – Home of the Heart (France, 2022, Director: Sarah Saidan)

Special Jury Mention “For the opportunity to get to know yourself” – Passenger (Argentina, 2022, Director: Juan Pablo Zaramella)

Special Jury Mention for Gentle Narration – Snow is Falling (Russia, 2022, Director: Nina Bisyarina)

Special Jury Mention for Authentic Central Asian Setting – Prelude and Fugue (Belarus, 2022, Director: Igor Volchek)

Russian Fiction Film Competition:

Best Film – Father’s House (Russia, 2022, Director: Konstantin Aleksandrov)

Best Male Performance – Mikhail Gavasheli, Dear Friend (Russia, 2022, Director: Dmitry Kravitsky)

Best Female Performance – Roza Khayrullina, Shurik (Russia, 2022, Director: Aleksandr Samsonov)

Special Jury Mention for Author’s Style – Shurik (Russia, 2022, Director: Aleksandr Samsonov)

Children’s Film and Animation Competition:

Best Animation Film for Children – Star Catch (Russia, 2022, Director: Pelageya Generalova)

Best Film for Children (Teans) – Chicken (Kazakhstan, 2022, Director: Anastassiya Biryucheva)

Best Performance – Siva as Boy, The Priceless Art (India, 2021, Director: Mohamed Asif Hameed)

Special Curators Award:

For Emotional Directing Style – Son of the Sun (Kyrgyzstan, 2022, Director: Dastan Madalbekov)

For Expressive Artistic Duo – The Night You Can (Russia, 2022, Director: Maria Yastrebova)

For Film Magic – Street Light (Russia, 2021, Director: Vladislav Ikonnikov)

For Lightness and Charm – Seems Like Forever (Russia, 2022, Director: Alena Oleynik)

For Gentle Performance – Alisiya Sloboyan, Donum (Russia, 2022, Director: Anastasia Petrochuk)

For Artistic Concept – Triptych documentary (Russia, 2022, Director: Yana Osman)

For Artistic Interpretation – Not My Bread (Russia, 2022, Director: Andrey Bakhurin)

Audience Awards:

International Program – Friend (Belarus, 2021, Director: Andrey Svetlov)

Russian Program – votes were split even between Renaissance, Year 20… (Russia, 2022, Director: Sergey Bataev) and Shurik (Russia, 2022, Director: Aleksandr Samsonov)

Children’s Program – Not Ivan, or How to Summon a Hero (Russia, 2021, Director: Denis Shabliy)

Among Volgograd films, the viewers favored The Picture (Director: Aleksey Chernenko).

Apart from the competition programs, the audience watched the opening feature film – The Sun Above Me Never Sets (Yakutia, Russia, 2019), and the welcoming video message from its director, Lyubov Borisova; the out-of-competition Volgograd films, which sparked a vivid discussion; the French films and animation program by VKRATZE! partner, “Alliance Française -Rostov-on-Don”. The festival program also included a special screening of Long Shot documentary (Russia, 2021) and a workshop by its director and jury member Vladislav Golovnev, as well as lectures on animation documentaries, Uzbekistan and Central Asia cinema, and film texts.

Aleksandr Akulinichev taught a “How To Write About Movies?” seminar for young journalists and bloggers, with topics for discussion, including texts about the cinema, major elements of a film review, film analysis methods, and others. The seminar attendees wrote reviews of three short films screened at the festival.

Special screenings of VKRATZE! Festival will take place on December 19-21.