11/24/2025
I want to sincerely thank all the participants of our film festival and the entire creative program of our festival. Ukrainian cinema is incredible. We must see it. We must talk about it. Ukrainian cinema is the universal language of our people, which can show better than any politician what is happening in Ukraine.
Throughout the festival, many people approached me and thanked me for the program, for the fact that the films were so different, and each one was unique. As an organizer, I feel a little sad that we have so few official nominations.
🏆 Our winners:
1st place: “Autumn Glissando” — director Bohdan Zheleznyak. We thank you for the subtle psychological vision, deep understanding of Ukrainian realities, and incredible skill.
2nd place: “Letters from Kherson”, director Oleksiy Sandakov — recognized for cinematography, author presence, and depth of material presentation.
3rd place: “Pszza under Fire”, director Adrian Pennink — we thank you for professionalism, stance, and support of Ukrainians, for bravery and courage in difficult circumstances.
Our Viewers’ Choice Award went to Ron Schildknecht
film “Mother, Protect Us.” I was lucky to work on this film, and for me it was a real but very pleasant surprise that the viewers chose it.
Maxim Tuzhilin’s film “My City M” receives the nomination “Social Position” for the accuracy of the situation conveyed and the truth shown in this film.
The film “Soldatik”, director Daniil Dedkov, is now known to a wide audience — it is traveling through international festivals, and we are grateful for the opportunity to show it at our festival. We can only wish open doors for this film and for all Ukrainian cinema.
The film “Prediction”, director Nikita Makusev, was an absolute favorite of one of our jury members. Unfortunately, it did not make it into the official nominations, but we are grateful for this work.
“Partisans Arrived”, director Yaroslav Popov, cinematographer Taras Nebesny, idea by Yurko Soroka — deep understanding of history, the ability to speak about Ukraine across different times.
The film “Euthanasia” was an absolute revelation of the festival. Personally, viewers even asked for the opportunity to watch it again at home — of course, we did not allow this, as there is an official selection, but it truly was a breath of fresh air.
We were happy to see the works of Bohdan Zheleznyak — each of his films is unique: with depth, the ability to live through a situation, and unexpected solutions. His creativity inspires and shows that worthy changes are growing in Ukrainian cinema.
“Place of Peace,” director Antonina Gotfrid — story of hope and reconciliation — we thank you for the beauty of the frame, honesty, and vitality!
“Yellow-Blue Maidan,” director Mohammad Naruzi — thank you for preserving the truth of Maidan, thank you for being there every day!
Especially my favorite, as an organizer, was the film “Another Day.” When selecting the Viewers’ Choice film, I personally voted for “Another Day” — for its lightness, for irony, for the fact that Ukrainians continue to laugh despite everything.
We thank “Monsters” for its truth and deep psychological insight!
I thank each of you — thank you for your films, thank you for the truth and depth of the films you create, thank you for the artistic decisions, thank you for speaking about Ukraine. We thank everyone who was with us at this first festival, we thank you for your creativity and inspiration!
