POLISH PRODUCTIONS TRIUMPH IN KYIV

The recently concluded Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist has honoured the Polish co-production Flowers of Ukraine by Adelina Borets, as well as the short film Basia: Three Short Stories by Mateusz Pietrak.

The Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist is one of Ukraine's most prestigious film events. Dedicated to supporting young and emerging filmmakers, the annual festival in the nation's capital showcases a vast array of shorts, fiction, and documentary works from around the globe. Molodist is renowned for its promotion of new talent, offering young directors the chance to present their visions before international audiences and industry professionals. 

The documentary Flowers of Ukraine – directed by Adelina Borets – was awarded the festival's prize for best documentary. Natalia, a 67-year-old, lives on a flower-rich plot of land in the heart of a Kyiv housing estate. She tends to goats and chickens, cultivates a garden, and has been battling investors – who wish to build yet another property where her home stands – for years. The sight of diggers, which Natalia chases away from her property with unwavering vigour, has become a daily occurrence. No amount of money can persuade her to change her mind. After all, it's about her home, and not merely a piece of property. And just when it seems that the fight against housing developers is the worst of her troubles, Russia launches its attack on Ukraine.

Mateusz Pietrak's Basia: Three Short Stories received the ex aequo award for best student film.   Its octogenarian protagonist, Basia, declares with laughter, “I've decided that this year, I'm going to die”. She lives a fulfilling life of a grandmother, mother and sibling. And a stage performer. As we observe her preparations for the performance of her life, Basia's interactions with loved ones reveal an artist whose everyday actions are suffused with uncommon vitality and passion. Art penetrates her everyday activities, and the result is an intensely personal meditation on the experience of aging, culminating in the protagonist's triumphant final act.

The full list of festival award winners can be found on the festival's website.