The 35th Message to Man film festival concluded in Saint Petersburg.
The Grand Prix of the international competition was awarded to Igor Elukov’s Russian documentary Fields of Falling. The film follows the foreman of a scrap-collection crew who becomes consumed with searching the northern woods and marshes for missiles.
Other prizewinners were as follows.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION:
• Special Jury Prize “Silver Centaur” — “For an emotional connection articulated through a new animated language” — No Rain Tomorrow, dir. Maria Trigo Teixeira (Portugal, Germany)
• “Silver Centaur” — “For the striking power of a visual image that conveys a universal Confucian awkwardness” — Urban Duet, dir. Yue Hongyu (China)
• “Silver Centaur” — “For a deeply personal interpretation of an unknown facet of contemporary Iran” — Citizen Prisoner, dir. Hesam Eslami (Iran)
NATIONAL COMPETITION:
• “Silver Centaur” for Best Documentary of the national competition — “For artistic honesty and belief in the future” — The Adventures of a Real Samurai in a World of Disasters, dir. Lida Kanashova (Russia)
• Special Jury Prize “Silver Centaur” — “For the topicality of the subject and the director’s approach” — The Doors Close, dir. Yana Isaenko (Russia, France)
• Diploma — “For documenting the paradoxes of contemporary life” — Vera Visheva, dir. Konstantin Atamanyuk (Russia)
The festival also screened New Wave by Richard Linklater, Resurrection by Bi Gan, and Sirat by Olivier Laxe.
Photo: a still from Fields of Falling
