The Beat Film Festival, a documentary film festival on modern culture, ended on June 18; the winners of the national competition were awarded at the House of Culture GES-2 in Moscow. Some films in the program will be available for viewing online until June 25. Details about the winners and brilliant participants of the exam can be found in the Russian media material.
“Once we launched the national competition to show how the industry is growing with the festival. It was a growth point for us, but today it’s mostly important as a focal point. It’s a show that’s closest to reality, it’s a place where we talk directly to each other, focusing on what’s been filmed and done in the past year,” organizers said in a statement.
In 2023, seven Russian films took part in the competition, another 15 films were screened out of competition, as well as several popular works from previous years. The jury included journalist Yuri Saprykin, director Tair Polad-Zade and Kinopoisk editor Philip Mironov.
“Heaven”
real. Alexander Abaturov
Festival Grand Prize
Image from the film “Paradise” / director Alexander Abaturov, composer Delphine Malossena, Benjamin Morando, / arte France Cinéma
The jury awarded the main prize to a film about the struggle of the inhabitants of the village of Yakut against forest fires – “for hope during a disaster”. The film begins with a caption about the existence in Russian legislation of the concept of “control zones” – these are territories where the authorities cannot extinguish forest fires “in the absence of a threat to settlements or economic facilities in cases where the project costs of extinguishing a forest fire exceed the anticipated damage that could be caused to them.”
The village of Shologon, where the heroes of the film live, is located in this “zone”. Summer for them becomes a period of fighting smoke and fire, they themselves organize fire teams, where everyone goes – young men who dream of a winter trip with their beloved to Yakutsk, women singing and showing each other skirts in which they go to dig trenches in the forest. It seems that the fire is still far away, when it could only be near. But locals know not to linger – they call the flame an elusive “dragon” that cannot be caught, but must be delayed until the rains come.
“Piblokto”
real. Anastasia Shubina and Timofey Glinin
VAC fund price
Image from the film “Piblokto” / director Anastasia Shubina, Timofey Glinin
A short film about the inhabitants of Chukotka received the prize “for the maturity of the cinematographic gaze”. The film is reminiscent of Philip Yuryev’s feature film “Whaler” in its theme, which received awards from the Kinotavr and the Venice Film Festival, and in its intonation – “Exit” by Maxim and Evgenia Arbugaev from the Beat competition of the last year and from the Oscar list.
It’s whale watching, which is far from romantic. It is dominated by the harsh laws of the North – with all their cruelty and inexorability. The calm sea at dawn turns deadly red from the blood of a dead whale, the dogs here are not fluffy domestic friends, but a means of transportation. And in this world there are people who are no strangers to dreams.
“ABOUT. A”
real. Yaroslav Kirichenko
Moscow Film School Special Prize
Image from the film “O. A» / director dir. Yaroslav Kirichenko
Meditative essay “Oh. A” received an award “for the search for novelties in documentary films and the reflection of time through art”. The film is a collage of images of the planet from the Google satellite. The author combines photographs of mountains, fields, rivers and seas at different scales, making them rhyme and looping them into a single composition.
“I am Jacques-Yves Cousteau”
real. Mikhail Makarov
participant in the national competition
From the movie “I am Jacques-Yves Cousteau” / directed by Mikhail Makarov
It’s a short story about a guy named Lekha, who works as a light fitter at Gogol Center. He was never related to the theater and did not think he would take the stage. Lyokha tells her life story, sitting near the stage, reading her poems and thinking about the past. Everyone in the theater knows him. Actor Yevgeny Kharitonov is repaired by Lekha, and “Semenych” (director Kirill Serebrennikov) asks him to play in “Petrovs in the Flu” and “Limonov”.
“Rumble in the Twilight of Moscow”
real. Alena Mikhailova
participant in the national competition
From the movie “Rumble in the Twilight of Moscow” / director Alyona Mikhailova
The sound of iron, screams, rhythmic knocks on metal layers, drums on factory springs – this was how the Moscow industrialist sounded in the 90s. Alena Mikhailova’s film is imbued mad energy of protest and rebellion. The heroes of the picture are Vladimir Epifantsev, Alexei Tegin, German Vinogradov and other pioneers of post-Soviet industry. They created the show and their art from the tools at their fingertips, transforming the sounds of metal to the beat of a new generation.
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
