Closing ceremony of 46th Moscow International Film Festival took place in the Rossiya Theatre. The film Shame became the winner
Jury members and participants of MIFF competition programs, as well as Sergey Garmash, Aleksey Uchitel, Svetlana Druzhinina, Aleksandr Tsypkin, Ekaterina Volkova, Elena Letuchaya and Yury Anashenkov, Marina Domozhirova and Dmitry Ulianov, Mikhail Troynik, Tatiana Lyutayeva, Bella Potemkina, Sevil, Roman Kurtzyn, Dmitry Chebotarev and Elizaveta Klimova, Evgenia Malakhova, Sergey Dzeban and Olesya Sudzilovskaya, Lyubov and Pavel Aksenov, Jana Krainova, Olga Smirnova, Svetlana Stepankovskaya, Aleksandra Kiseleva, Alyona Chekhova, Anna Churina, Irina Bezrukova, Vasilina Yuskovets, Sergey Ginzburg and Olga Vinichenko, Daniil Fedorov, Victor Vasilyev and Anna Snatkina, Anna Peresild, Marina Vorozhishcheva, Nastasya Samburskaya, Sofya Arzhanykh, Elizaveta Bazykina, Anna Kalashnikova, and the shooting crew of the film Major Thunder: The Game walked the Red Carpet leading to the theatre.
Vladimir Vdovichenkov hosted the ceremony. The first Festival prize was awarded to a short film. The Jury of the competition included President of the Moroccan Union of Filmmakers and Script Writers Abdelilah El Jaouhary, the Russian actress Mariya Andreeva, and the American director and producer Max Weissberg.
Abdelilah El Jaouhary: "We had the pleasure to watch 18 films from across the world. And all these films are equally of highest technical and creative quality. Of course, it was very hard to select a winner, so we would like to award special mentions to the films "Taxidermist" from Iran and "Clerk" from India. For the awarding of the Grand Prix, we selected a film, which astonished us with its artistic language and the way it speaks to man, what thoughts it conveys and how it reflects our existence".
Silver St. George for the best short film – The Companions directed by Jose María Flores (Spain)
The Documentary Competition of 46th Moscow International Film Festival was judged by the South African director and script writer Rehad Desai, the Turkish director Hakan Aytekin and the Russian filmmaker Sergey Golovetsky.
Rehad Desai: "The diversity of the films participating in the competition has enriched us, for which I would like to thank all the participants. In a way, the fact that you are among the nominees for a prize at such a prestigious festival already makes you a winner. Considering the utmost quality of the films, it was very difficult for us to select only one winner, so we would like to make two special mentions: the Chinese film May and the Russian film I'm Coming Home. But there can be only one winner, so the main prize of the competition goes to the picture, which helped us make an amazing, deep journey into the inner emotional world of the artist. In our humble opinion, this movie has opened new horizons in filmmaking".
Silver St. George for the best documentary film – Facing the Rook directed by Sam Kalantari (Iran)
The producer Aleksander Akopov, the director Andrey Zaytsev and the actress Tatyana Lyutaeva selected the winner of the Russian Premiere Competition this year. They also decided to award a special mention to the film Eugene Telegin by Viktor Tikhomirov.
Silver St. George for the best film of the Russian Premiere Competition – Liar directed by Yulia Trofimova (Russia)
The director Yulia Trofimova and the producer Katerina Mikhaylova received the award. "Honestly, I did not expect this award and I am very happy! I am very grateful to the Jury for appreciating our work! I'd like to thank the whole crew and all the actors who did just a great job! And all those who have watched our film", said Yulia Trofimova.
The Jury of the Main Competition of 46th Moscow International Film Festival included the producer and script writer from Kazakhstan Gulnara Sarsenova, the Russian actress Elena Lyadova, the Turkish director Hüseyin Karabey, the Russian filmmaker Igor Voloshin, the Serbian actor, script writer and director Radoš Bajić. The director, script writer and producer from Iceland Fridrik Thor Fridriksson chaired the Jury.
Silver St. George for the best actress – Mareike Beykirch, Schlamassel (Germany)
Silver St. George for the best actor – Juan Ramón Lópes, Shame (Mexico, Qatar)
"Thank you so much for this prize. Juan Ramón will be happy! He is a great actor and he has a great future ahead", said the director of the film Shame Miguel Salgado receiving the award.
Awarding the special prize, the director Igor Voloshin stressed that the Jury had awarded this prize "for unwavering commitment to author's concept".
Special prize of the Jury, Silver St. George – Nirvana directed by Asif Islam (Bangladesh)
"This is a great ray of light and a great hope for each independent filmmaker in Bangladesh", said the director Asif Islam receiving the award.
Silver St. George for the best director – Cold Sigh directed by Nahid Azizi Sedigh (Iran)
Not only the director herself, but also the actor Iman Sedigh and the producer Reza Mohaghegh walked up the stage to receive the award. Reza Mohaghegh emphasized that the film was shot in very difficult conditions adding that this prize should be dedicated to all men and women of his native Iran.
"I have one dream: I hope that one day a day will come when no artist, no performer, no director will be punished for their attempts to freely express their thoughts and opinions", said the director Nahid Azizi Sedigh receiving the figurine.
Golden St. George for the best film – Shame directed by Miguel Salgado (Mexico, Qatar)
"This project cost us a lot of hard efforts, it involved many people who worked selflessly. We made this film about a very serious problem that we have been struggling with and continue to fight against in Mexico. Thank you so much to the Festival for selecting our film for the competition, thank you to the Jury for this award. I am incredibly grateful to everyone involved in the production of the film, it was made entirely through the efforts of our cinema school. I also thank Doha Film Institute and the Mexican Film Institute, which helped us make our film", said Miguel Salgado receiving the main prize of 46th Moscow International Film Festival.
Wrapping up the ceremony, President of the Festival Nikita Mikhalkov reported that the Festival had screened over 240 films from 56 countries, with 387 screenings spanning nine Moscow's cinema halls. 39 thousand spectators visited the screenings, with over 7.5 thousand registrations received for the Festival, including more than 1,5 thousand representative of the media.
"A great word of thanks goes to all the jury members. Their work is very hard, and it's very important when awards are given to those who really deserve them. But it is also a great milestone to participate in the competition. I would like to suggest that those who receive prizes speak their native languages. It is very important that a person who made a film and receives a prize for it can express gratitude in his native language, in which their film was made", stressed Mikhalkov.
Before announcing the closing of the Festival, Nikita Mikhalkov awarded the traditional honorary prize For the Contribution to World Cinema.
Golden St. George for the contribution to world cinema – the director Sergey Ursulyak.
"It would be better to rephrase the prize title likes this: it is not for my contribution to cinema, but for cinema's contribution to me. It would be more honest, correct and fair, because I owe the best in me, at least something I have, largely to the great Soviet cinema. I loved it and I love it, and it has always been a benchmark for me. I can't help but name people who are not with us, but to whom I owe a lot. I am very grateful to Vladimir Motyl, who accepted me to higher courses. I am also thankful to Marlen Khutsiev and Sergei Solovyov, who did not accept me to VGIK two times. This is also important! I thank Armen Medvedev, Mikael Tariverdiev.... I thank Eldar Ryazanov, Eduard Volodarsky, Vladimir Menshov. They were wonderful people who were good to me for some reason and gave me a lot. I want to thank the people I worked with, to thank my producers, my crew, which helped me greatly. I want to say thank you to my actors and to pay a tribute to my wonderful cameraman Misha Suslov. We worked together a lot, he passed away a month ago. And, last but not least, I want to thank my family – my mother, my dad, brother, wife, my daughters, grandsons and granddaughters", said Sergey Ursulyak receiving the award.
Major Thunder: The Game directed by Oleg Trofim became the closing film of the 46th Moscow International Film Festival. The film was presented by its director, the producers Artem Gabrelyanov, Mikhail Kitaev, Olga Filipuk, the lead actors Lyubov Aksenova, Matvey Lykov, Aleksandr Seteykin, Andrey Trushin, Yevgeniy Chebatkov and other crew members of the project.
Mercury Jewellery is the official partner of Moscow International Film Festival. Mercury crafted the Festival's main prizes – the figurines of Saint George riding a silver horse and slaying the dragon with a spear. The Golden Saint George figurine is made from gilded silver and the Silver Saint George figurine is made from silver.
Sima-Land, one of the largest Russian retail and manufacturing companies, is an official partner of 46th Moscow International Film Festival.
VOYAH premium electric cars is an official partner of 46th Moscow International Film Festival.
Press Service of Moscow International Film Festival