XXX International Festival Message to Man draws its conclusions. For many years, the film festival has been among Russia’s leading film presentation events in terms of the number of applications and the geographical scope of participants. In 2020, 2837 applications from 98 countries were submitted for the qualifying round of the festival. Only 73 films were included in the competition. On November 8, the best films of 2020 were announced at Lendoc Studio during the closing ceremony of the festival.
The award ceremony which took place at Lendoc Open Studio was attended by Alexey Uchitel, Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Alexei Medvedev, Dinara Drukarova, Liza Savina, Denis Klebleyev, guests of honor, and the festival’s participants and partners.
The number of films submitted for selection traditionally puts Message to Man among the leading Russian and European festivals. In 2020, filmmakers from 98 countries submitted their works to the festival. 73 films were selected for the competition.
In addition to competition screenings, the festival team prepared 5 special programmes with unique content, 1 retrospective, and 4 special screenings. The festival programme included creative meetings, discussions, two free admission conferences and over a dozen online Q&A sessions, with the participation of filmmakers from all over the globe.
“The main result of the festival is that it actually happened, that we didn’t skip this year. The festival is positively alive, it has its audience, which is constantly renewed. Moreover, on the one hand, we returned to our old location at Dom Kino and Rodina, but, on the other hand, this led to a radical renewal of our audience. Certainly, this was an “extreme” festival, but, following a Russian tradition, we are better at extreme things than routine ones. So, even the unexpected worked out well. We have just talked with Viktor Kossakovsky: it’s a symbolic coincidence that his work has been inextricably linked with the festival for 30 years of its existence. It’s great that we are closing with his new significant work. We were lucky with the opening film, too: we screened Nomadland almost immediately after its victory at the Venice Film Festival. It seemed to me like the competition was received with great enthusiasm. Traditionally, In Silico is one of the most popular programmes. Caught in the Net was a great success on the Panorama.doc programme. There were a few good online meetings that brightened our solitude in the face of the pandemic. With a certain effort, we managed to create the event’s atmosphere. This is important because the festival is more than just film screening. It is a meeting with filmmakers, audience and members of the jury,” said Alexei Medvedev, Director of Programming of the Message to Man Film Festival.
Over the course of the festival week, the audience had a chance to see 142 films, 37 Russian and 15 world premieres. Screenings were sold out; tickets to see some of the films were hard to get at the beginning of the festival week.
Online and offline events of the 2020 festival were attended by more than 500,000 viewers.
“As usual, the experimental competition was divided into two programmes (two screenings), a total of 19 short films. I’m very glad that we presented the programme at the grand hall of Rodina. This is my favorite cinema—it’s old and beautiful. My favorite specialists work at Rodina; they are the best at screening films. This year I decided to properly show the films: with a separate presentation of each one. We talked to the filmmakers, over Zoom and in person. Three film directors attended, and we met six more online. To be honest, I didn’t believe that the idea would materialize without any trouble, but everything was perfect. We also showed welcome videos from some of the filmmakers. The moviegoers welcome the experimental cinema, because it is something new and unusual. That’s why I’m doing this programme myself. I believe, this is one of the most interesting programmes at the festival (if not the most, which I don’t say out of modesty). People were buzzing to see the screenings of the competition programme, the films were seen by the maximum possible number of viewers in a pandemic. I am also pleased with the jury’s decision. It was not in vain!” said Mikhail Zheleznikov, Curator of the In Silico International Competition of Experimental Films.
AWARDS:
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Golden Centaur Grand Prix and 3,000 USD prize for Best Film
Just a Guy, directed by Shoko Hara, Germany, 2020, 15 min.
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Full-length Documentary was not awarded
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Documentary Short Film
Shānzhài Screens, directed by Paul Heintz, France, 2020, 23 min.
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Documentary Short Film
Invisible Hero, directed by Cristèle Aves Meira, France/Portugal, 2019, 28 min.
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Live Action Short Film
Boring Life, directed by Duan Yunchong, China, 2019, 21 min.
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Animated Film
Anna, Cat-and-Mouse, directed by Varya Yakovleva, Russia, 2020, 5 min.
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Debut
Anna, Cat-and-Mouse, directed by Varya Yakovleva, Russia, 2020, 5 min.
NATIONAL COMPETITION, DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Centaur Prize and 50,000 RUB for Best Film of the National Competition
Stand-up Is Pain, directed by Sabrina Karabayeva, Russia, 2020, 49 min.
Jury Centaur Prize and 30,000 RUB
for the mastery of cinematic language, the prize is awarded to Froth, directed by Ilya Povolotsky, Russia, 2019, 85 min.
Jury Special Mention for the simplicity and transparency of cinematic image
Master of the Pond, directed by Sofia Kulakova, Russia, 2020, 30 min.
IN SILICO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Centaur Prize and 1,000 USD for Best Experimental Film
Alice’s Four Stories, directed by Myriam Jacob-Allard, Canada, 2019, 6 min.
Diploma ‘For the artistic view of a social problem’
awarded to Carriere de Pissy, directed by Eliott Chabanis, 2019, France, 13 min.
Diploma ‘For the poetic image, connecting personal and global history, visible and tangible’
awarded to Apparition, directed by Ismaïl Bahri, France, 2019, 3 min.
ADDITIONAL AWARDS:
STUDENT JURY PRIZE
Bless you!, directed by Tatyana Chistova, Russia/Poland, 2020, 30 min.
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FILM CRITICS FIPRESCI
La Mami, directed by Laura Herrero Garvín, Spain, 2019, 82 min.
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FILM SOCIETIES PRIZE
Master of the Pond, directed by Sofia Kulakova, Russia, 2020, 30 min.
OTHER AWARDS of the XXX International Festival MESSAGE TO MAN
Prize for contribution to cinematography and the development of documentary filmmaking awarded to Anders Østergaard.
Honorary Festival President Prize ‘For care and love for human’ with 1,000 USD certificate
Cinema of the Era of Change, directed by Alexey Fedorchenko, Russia, 2019, 61 min.
General Sponsor Prize — Ilim Group
Bless you!, directed by Tatyana Chistova, Russia/Poland, 2020, 30 min.
Dan Revival Projects Special Prize — Danya Gurevich Prize
Leningraders, director, screenwriter and cinematographer Nikita Yefimov, Russia, 2020, 10 min.
Bellona Environment Rights Center Prize
Acasă, My Home, directed by Radu Ciorniciuc, Romania, 2020, 86 min.
Alexander Rastorguev Prize awarded to two films:
“For a kind and generous heart in the vile and merciless educational system of the Russian school” is awarded to Vasily Kharitonov, the main character of the documentary film Hey, Teachers.
“For visual talent: whipping the froth of reality into a feature film” is awarded to Evgeniy Rodin, the cinematographer of the documentary film Froth.
Ilim Group is the general sponsor of the XXX International Film Festival Message to Man
Ilim Group is the largest producer of pulp and paper products in Russia. Ilim Group comprises three pulp and paper mills in Arkhangelsk (Koryazhma) and Irkutsk regions (Bratsk, Ust-Ilimsk), two modern corrugated board mills in Leningrad and Moscow regions, and Sibgiprobum Design Institute (Irkutsk). Ilim Group annually produces over 3 million tonnes of cellulose and paper products. The Group supplies its products to over 70 countries. The key market is China (over 1.4 million tonnes of products). The company employs over 17,000 people.
