AwardsWatch

This year, the National Competition of the 13th Odesa International Film Festival, given the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, was held within the framework of the Warsaw International Film Festival. The programme "Odessa - Warsaw: Ukrainian competition" included 11 feature films and 7 short films.

The winners of the competition were determined by an expert jury, which included a producer and director Dariusz Jablonski (Poland), producer and screenwriter Ilona Łepkowska (Poland ) and producer Ivanna Diadiura (Ukraine).

By the decision of the jury in the OIFF competition, the Best Ukrainian Feature Film and the Best Documentary Film were awarded.

Maksym Nakonechnyi's feature debut "Butterfly vision" became the best Ukrainian feature film.

“I am proud of Maksym (Nakonechnyi) and the team. I would like to note that me, Max, and our entire team have many friends who are now defending Ukraine as soldiers, fighting for their lives as paramedics, some of our friends, whom we know personally, are in captivity. Therefore, it is very important to talk about them, to do everything so that their stories are known and seen. And that's why our film is very important, and I'm happy that it won the award. Thanks to the Odesa Film Festival, thanks to Warsaw,” the co-author of the script of the winning film Iryna Tsilyk says.

Taras Tomenko's "Boney Piles" was named the best documentary film.

“Jury of the Odesa competition in Warsaw saw seven different kind of short films. Short films are always a territory of experiment and young daring spirit. We appreciate the work of all the filmmakers who took part in the competition with their stories, but at the same time we faced a deep desire to support the film about young and promising generation and we hope that short films filmmakers would support us in this non standard decision! After long consideration Jury proposed to give the second award to documentary film instead which brings important context to the tragic situation which Ukrainian society is facing. On the request of the Jury proposal was accepted by the Director of the Festival”, comments the jury.

“Until February we had many plans and dreams. But now we all have only one dream - peace in our country. Our artists protect Ukraine from Russian soldiers instead of making films. But Ukrainian cinema is alive and powerful – it is our culture and the voices of our people. This year we have a very strong programme of the National Competition and I am glad to have the opportunity to hold it here in Warsaw, where many Ukrainian film artists have found refuge and the support of the Polish people. Thanks to the Warsaw Film Festival for being here now, it was not easy, but we succeeded. Thanks to the jury for your difficult work. Thanks to Dariusz Jablonski and all Polish filmmakers for your strong support! Dziękuję bardzо! Glory to Ukraine!”, Anna Machukh, general director of the Odessa International Film Festival, said at the awards ceremony.