The Message to Man International Film Festival, held in St. Petersburg from October 18 to 27, 2024, announced its prize winners and award recipients.
This year, the International, National, and the In Silico Experimental Film Competition included 78 works from 30 countries, selected from more than 2,300 applications from 93 countries.
On October 26, during the Closing Ceremony at Lendoc film studio in St. Petersburg, the Festival’s best films were revealed.
The Prize for Contribution to World Cinema at the Closing Ceremony was awarded to the outstanding master and cinema classic Artavazd Peleshyan. The accolade was presented to Peleshyan by Festival President, Alexei Uchitel.
“The Festival, like each of us, stands at the intersection of two lines: we are inscribed in a long timeline, and we are also makers of our time. Thus, it is essential for the Festival to look inward for its past while offering it our present. We are incredibly fortunate to have two great masters who have each inscribed their names into cinema’s long history: Artavazd Peleshyan, who has contributed his own chapter to this legacy, and Rustam Khamdamov, a mysterious and idiosyncratic artist, an inventor of a universe that operates by the rules of its creator,” shared Mikhail Ratgauz, Programme Director of the Message to Man Film Festival.
MAIN COMPETITION PRIZES
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The International Competition jury panel included Venice Film Festival award-winner, Nepalese director Min Bahadur Bham; IDFA and San Sebastián prize-winner, Argentine director Martín Benchimol; Serbian director, producer, and Locarno Film Festival curator, participant in Cannes and Venice film festivals Stefan Ivančić; young world-renowned experimentalist, participant of Berlin, Toronto, and New York international film festivals, Turkish director Burak Çevik. Representing Russia on the International Competition jury is renowned costume designer, Nika Award laureate Nadezhda Vasilyeva.
- Golden Centaur Grand Prix and a cash prize of 250,000 roubles for Best Film of the Festival awarded “For making us feel the dreams, yet the tough reality of life of a group of kids living in Melilla”
Obscure Night — Goodbye Here, Anywhere, directed by Sylvain George. France, Switzerland, 2023. - Silver Centaur and a cash prize of 80,000 roubles for best direction awarded “For its powerful and sensitive staging, which turns a child’s story into a reflection on the human condition”
The Damp Ground, directed by Maxim Kuzhba. Russia, 2024 - Silver Centaur and a cash prize of 80,000 roubles for best short film awarded “For narrating its subject with a careful mise-en-scène and an outstanding directorial skill”
The Red Color of the Second Planet, directed by Azer Guliev. Azerbaijan, 2022 - Silver Centaur and a cash prize of 80,000 roubles for an artistic perspective awarded “For offering a unique experience that brings us back to the origins of cinema and speaks to the brevity of our existence on Earth”
Bogancloch, directed by Ben Rivers. UK, Germany, Iceland, 2024 - First Special Mention of the Jury awarded “For making us question our positions”
Theatre of Violence, directed by Lukasz Konopa, Emil Langballe. Denmark, Germany, 2023. - Second Special Mention of the Jury awarded “For taking our hearts away”
Tako Tsubo, directed by Eva Pedroza, Fanny Sorgo. Austria, Germany, 2024
NATIONAL COMPETITION
The National Competition jury panel included Locarno and Cannes award-winner, director Darezhan Omirbayev; programmer at major international film festivals Alena Shumakova; and Russian filmmaker, Kinotavr winner Nikolay Khomeriki.
- Golden Centaur and a cash prize of 50,000 roubles for Best Documentary Film in the National Competition awarded “For showing the possibility of a different kind of life”
The Wind Has No Tail, directed by Ivan Vlasov, Nikita Stashkevich. Russia, 2024 - Silver Centaur Special Jury Prize and 30,000 roubles awarded “For an auteur vision of human history”
Hydroelectric Joy, directed by Alexander Markov. France, 2024 - Diploma awarded “For tenderness, toughness, and distance”
Wife to Be, directed by Inna Omelchenko. Russia, 2024 - Diploma awarded “For the attempt and courage to revisit childhood”
Hi Papa!, directed by Aleksandra Kretsan. Russia, Kazakhstan, 2024
IN SILICO INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL FILMS COMPETITION
Judging the In Silico Experimental Film Competition were artist Kerim Ragimov, philosopher Mikhail Kurtov, and director Zhenya Korchagina.
- Golden Centaur and a cash prize of 80,000 roubles for Best Experimental Film awarded “For a masterful, polyrhythmic, and ironically tinged portrayal of the vulnerability of human existence amidst natural and social threats”
Protect Your Home (Interpret It Well), directed by Frank Heath. USA, 2022 - Special Jury Prize and a diploma awarded “For the skillful and touching expression of human emotions in the context of blended artificial worlds”
Dear Ma’, directed by Olivier Grancher-Martel. Canada, 2024 - Diploma awarded “For a fluid expression of love and television in the era of film”
Three Secret Clues of Longing, directed by Zhenia Kazankina. Switzerland, 2023
PRESS JURY PRIZE
The Press Jury panel featured author and screenwriter of the series The Boy’s Word: Blood on the Asphalt Robert Garayev; editor-in-chief of Sobaka.ru Yana Miloradovskaya; and editor-in-chief of KinoPoisk Filipp Mironov.
- Press Jury Award awarded “For benevolent humor and a well-chosen perspective that becomes a key to addressing a complex subject”
Still with Us, directed by Alexey Khanyutin. Russia, 2024
STUDENT JURY PRIZE
The Student Jury panel included Marylya Gembar (VGIK), Izabella Tarasova (St. Petersburg School of New Cinema), and Raya Shmatova (St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television).
- Diploma awarded “For creating an archaic feminine image with an authentic cultural code”
Wife to Be, directed by Inna Omelchenko. Russia, 2024 - Diploma awarded “For the integrity of expression”
Decryption, directed by Maya Zack. Israel, 2023
SPECIAL AWARDS
PRIZE FOR CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Awarded to filmmaker Artavazd Peleshyan
PRIZE FROM THE MESSAGE TO MAN HONORARY PRESIDENT, FILMMAKER MIKHAIL LITVYAKOV
Still with Us, directed by Alexey Khanyutin. Russia, 2024
PRIZE FROM ILIM GROUP, GENERAL PARTNER OF THE FESTIVAL
Hydroelectric Joy, directed by Alexander Markov. France, 2024
PRIZE FROM BALABANOV STREET TELEGRAM CHANNEL (ulizabalabanova) AWARDED
“For selfless honesty and piercing tenderness”
Hi Papa!, directed by Aleksandra Kretsan. Russia, Kazakhstan, 2024
SPECIAL PRIZE FROM THE FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS OF ST. PETERSBURG AND THE LENINGRAD REGION FOR THE BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE WORKING PERSON
Teeny-Tiny, directed by Evgeniya Dudnikova. Russia, 2024
PRIZE FROM THE ZNANIE SOCIETY
Against the Wind, directed by Tatyana Soboleva. Russia, 2024
AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD
Against the Wind, directed by Tatyana Soboleva. Russia, 2024
ALEXANDER RASTORGUEV PRIZE
- Awarded “For the courage to speak about the fate of vanishing peoples, and for the authors’ ability to extract the oil of life from the depths of permafrost”
The Wind Has No Tail, directed by Ivan Vlasov, Nikita Stashkevich. Russia, 2024
- Special Mention awarded for “Sincerity and an original approach to conveying the theme of the untold Chechen war”
Wandering Pain, directed by Eugeniya Gorda. Russia, 2024
In addition to competition screenings, the Festival programme featured 13 special sections prepared by curators, an Industry Programme, the Kiberglaz neural network film laboratory, special screenings, and master classes. Films of the Message to Man programme were showcased at Dom Kino, Lendoc film studio, Aurora, Rodina, Angleterre, Lenfilm, Velikan Park cinemas, the Alexandrinsky Theatre’s New Stage, Levashovsky Bread Factory, and the Word Order bookstore.
