< VIII ARCTIC OPEN Grand Prix Went To Natalia Nazarova’s Philately>
The 8th ARCTIC OPEN IFF held its award ceremony in Arkhangelsk’s M.V. Lomonosov Drama Theater. Its Grand Prix went to Natalia Nazarova’s film Philately (12+). Receiving the award—from the hands of film director and this year’s jury chair Alexei German, Jr. – was lead actress Alina Khodzhevanova.
Philately follows Yana, a girl with special needs, who lives in a northern port town and has a passion for philately. Seemingly impossible, her mutual love with a lame sailor finds disapproval among some people around. Natalia Nazarova’s film evolved from her earlier short film Firefly, screened at the first ARCTIC OPEN IFF.
The film received a cash prize of RUB 100.000 from the National Copyright Holders Support Fund.
Competing for the top awards were a total of 70 films from 17 countries.
The Best Feature Film award went to the Iranian film Pregnant (18+), directed by Mostafa and Mohammad Tanabandeh and presened at the festival by producer Jalal Shokrolla. The best in the Short Films category is Anna Varaksina’s Confession (16+) and in the Documentary Films category Vasilisa Yurenkova and Grigory Yaroshenko’s The Last Continent (16+).
The film that received top prize in the Children’s Films category is 7600 (6+) by Behrouz Bagheri, Iran.
The recipients of special prizes are several: the family film by Anna Kurbatova My Wild Friend (6+), presented at the festival by lead actor Yelisey Chichulin; The Wormwood Of June (12+) by Yulia Bocharova; Malevich. Beyond Zero (6+) by Ivan Baturin; and Blue (6+) by Praveen Kumar Nagendran from India.
Also, each category, with the exception of popular science films, celebrated best directing, best script, and best cinematography. In the Children’s Films category, the Special Jury Mention went to Miroslava Karpeeva for best child performance in The May Beetle Called Wobbler (0+) directed by Yulia Linde. For the full list of winners please visit: https://arctic-open.com/pobediteli-arctic-open-2023/
“There were more quality films than I expected and more than film festivals normally screen. Paradoxically, not all of them won prizes. The festival programmers did a very good job selecting candidates—both debut films and works by mature filmmakers—from different countries. So, from the programming perspective, the festival has been lucky,” said Alexey German, Jr., ARCTIC OPEN Feature Films Jury Chair.
At the press conference held shortly before the closing ceremony, the chairs of the jury noted how independent filmmaking tends to focus more on “deeper meanings” than on “form”. Half of the children’s films selected have as a core theme parental neglect and forgotten childhood dreams.
Another trend noted by the jury members as the emerging phenomenon of Iranian cinema, noted for its high quality. Set in the environment still little known to us, the Iranian filmmakers raise eternal themes familiar to people of all countries. Particularly remarkable are the documentaries, showcasing strong cinematography and visual.
For the first time this year, ARCTIC OPEN featured the category of popular science films. Its top prize—the travel to the Arctic onboard the research ship Professor Molchanov as part of the Arctic Floating University expedition—went to Yulia Kiseleva for her film Ivan Pigarev And The Study Of Sleep, presented at the festival by the scientist’s son and producer Nikolay Pigarev.
Those of the winners who could not attend in person will receive their awards by mail. In addition to the ARCTIC OPEN statuettes and certificates, the winning films received gifts from the festival’s sponsors and partners.
Spanning four days and four municipalities alongside Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk, the ARCTIC OPEN venues were attended by more than 9,800 people.
“This international film festival happens in Arkhangelsk thanks to our team. We are a large team and among its members are all our partners—the cultural institutions, the entrepreneurs who provide gifts, the media covering our activities, and, of course, the audience. Not only are our audience active viewers, its members eagerly discuss the films we screen, telling the filmmakers what they think about their films—and sometimes their judgements can be piercing. We stand out as a festival that promotes collective viewing and sound post-screening discussions. This time we brought together the cinematographers from Russia, Iran, and Kyrgyzstan to communicate with our audience, promoting friendly ties, which, given that it happens in a challenging time, inspires hope that one day countries can achieve the understanding and more productive relationships by using the language of cinema,” commented Tamara Statikova, ARCTIC OPEN IFF Executive Director.
The award ceremony, however, did not mark the end of ARCTIC OPEN’s season. The festival will continue in January as ARCTIC OPEN Marathon, screening the films of the official selection, with the permission of their makers, in the museums, libraries, and cinemas of Arkhangelsk Province and, as is the tradition, other parts of Russia. Rolling into 2025 is also the series of workshops KinoSlovo, which will end in June with making of a short film.
In the first six months of 2025, the films of the 8th International Film Festival ARCTIC OPEN will be screened in Syktyvkar and at Saint-Petersburg’s Lenfilm Studio.
The ARCTIC OPEN project is supported by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, Arkhangelsk Governor’s Center, and Arkhangelsk Ministry of Culture of the Arkhangelsk, with the Northern (Arctic) Federal University Region as co-organizer.
