Alafey Hill, Tobolsk’s First Contemporary Film Festival chose Mezhsezoniye and Kholodno as the festival’s best films
28 march 2022
On March 27, Tobolsk’s Ershov Drama Theater hosted the gala closing ceremony of Alafey Hill, the First Open Russian Festival of Modern and Contemporary Cinema, that took stock of the festival’s results.
On March 23-27, Siberia’s historic capital became the venue for Alafey Hill
, a festival of modern and contemporary cinema that drew close to a hundred guests from different parts of the country, including filmmakers, actors, and journalists. In addition to film screenings, the festival’s intense program included master classes on stage movement, theatrical speech, cinematographic techniques, and script writing. The festival’s meet-the-star events and concerts featured many popular Russian actors including Yekaterina Shpitsa, Tatiana Abramova, Oleg Kharitonov, Maxim Kolosov, Asker Barbekov, and many others.
For five days, Tobolsk became a hub of the region’s cultural life. Tobolsk’s Ershov Drama Theater and the city’s Free Youth Theater featured a number of stage productions including How are you doing?, Nonsense, A Life in Pink, Okudzhava’s Era and My Own Way while the halls of Apelsinema
became a platform for viewing the films entered in the festival’s competition program that included 17 short films and 9 feature-length movies. Some of the films were presented by their directors. SIBUR acted as the festival’s general partner, using its social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds, as the vehicle.
The jury of the full-length films’ program was chaired by the actor Andrey Rudensky. The jury also consisted of Timofey Zhalnin, a winner of Russian and international festivals, and Natalia Tendora, a film critic and author of several books about cinema. The members of the jury judged the films featured in the full-length contest roster comprised of 9 films. At the end, the following prizes were awarded:
- Best Film (Grand Prix): Mezhsezoniye (Between Seasons), directed by Alexander Hunt
- Best Director: Valentin Makarov, Julur: Mas Wrestling
- Best Script: Andrei Taratukhin, Yulia Krutova, Natalia Milashkina, Babki (directed by N. Vladimirov)
- Best Actress: Yevgeniya Vinogradova, Mezhsezoniye (directed by A. Hunt)
- Best Actor: Gavril Menkyarov, Julur: Mas Wrestling (directed by V. Makarov)
- Best Cinematography: Natalia Makarova, Mezhsezoniye (directed by A. Hunt)
Swan Lake, a film directed by Anton Bilzho, received the prize of the cinema press: For being able to walk on the edge without falling off, but flying up instead. The Organizing Committee’s diploma For Humanity in Every Frame, Relevance and Humanism went to Raitsentr
(The District’s Capital) by Natalia Nazarova. When she was accepting the diploma, the film’s actress Anna Godovalnikova noted that she would like to shoot a documentary about Tobolsk.
The jury of the short film contest was headed up by Ekaterina Golovnya, director, producer, director of the Central House of Cinema (Moscow). The jury of the short film program also included Polina Oldenburg, director, actress, artist and singer, and Alexander Yaroshenko, a columnist with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The roster of the short film competition consisted of 17 films. The jury awarded the following prizes:
- Best Short Film: KHOLDNO (COLD), directed by Danil Ivanov
- Best Director: Ekaterina Germ-Uvarova, Alexey Saprykin, for Vysshiye Urovni, Highest Levels
- Diploma of the Jury For Originality of the Idea and Purity of the Genre, awarded o Sbory, a film directed by Natalia Gurkina.
In addition, prizes for outstanding contribution to the development of the art of cinema were also presented at the closing ceremony. The awards went to People's Artists of Russia Aristarkh Livanov and People's Artist of Russia Sergey Shakurov.
The ceremony was attended by Elena Mayer, Director of Tyumen Oblast’s Department of Culture, Yana Zubova, First Deputy Mayor of Tobolsk, and Elena Belskaya, Head of ZapSibNeftekhim’s Department of Government Relations and Socio-Economic Projects.
Cinema and theater are very close genres of art, they inspire us and help us answer many hard questions. The Alafey Hill festival has become a landmark cultural event both for Tobolsk and the entire outlying region, Yelena Mayer, Director of the Culture Department of Tyumen Oblast, noted.
My colleagues do know the Formula for Good Deeds. Thank you for such an amazing gift to Tobolsk. Tobolsk’s residents know how to welcome guests, and we hope that everyone will take a piece of our warmth with them, Yana Zubova, First Deputy Mayor of Tobolsk, noted.