1st International Children and Youth Film Festival Sochi (2001)

Russia’s First Lady, Lyudmila Putina, opened the First International Children and Youth Film Festival in Sochi (1 - 9 November 2001). Mark Rudinstein, the Moscow-based festival entrepreneur with two other film festivals under his wing (the Sochi International Film Festival in June, and the »Faces of Love« Film Festival in January), organized this event for the children of the Southern Federal District., supported in turn by the District’s V.G. Kazantsev (Envoy of the President) and his wife T.V. Kazantseva (Chairwoman of the Fund »For the Generation of the Future ­ Our Care«). Yuri Nikolayev, President of the Festival, welcomed children from as far away as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Astrakhan, and the Ukraine ­ some traveling three days by bus and train to reach Sochi. Each day, dancing and singing groups performed on stages before and inside the Winter Theatre ­ groups from Rostov, Kabardino, Stavropol, northern Osetia, and the Children’s home in Medvedovskaya stanitsa, Krasnodar region. Indeed, this was much more than just a film festival ­ it was a warm embrace with children of multi-cultural traditions and life-styles. An international jury ­ Dorothea Moritz (Germany, president), Anna-Maija Jokela (Finland), Gulandom Mukhabbatova (Tajikistan), Iya Ninidze (Georgia), Alexander Ikonikov (Russia), and Ron Holloway (USA) ­ viewed nine feature films from nine countries. And a Children’s Jury voted on winners in the Russian competition, 12 features produced over the past decade. Among these was a vigorous new production from the Yalta Film Studio: Valery Pendrakovsky’s Two Lads (2000), a coming-of-age film based on a novel by Vladimir Voinovic about two youths during a summer in the mid-1960s before military service. Indeed, the Sochi festival was so successful that a Moscow duplicate will follow. European Community guests felt at home at Sochi ­ the festival’s theme was a hearty rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with »An die Freude« lyrics by Friedrich Schiller.

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AWARDS GRAND PRIZE: Bare Skyer beverger stjernene (Only Clouds Move the Stars) (Norway), Torun Lian ­ »for its tender and profound statement on life and death as experienced through the feelings of an 11-year old girl.« BEST YOUNG ACTRESS: Thea Sofie Rusten in Only Clouds Move the Stars (Norway). SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Poika ja ilves (Tommy and the Wild Cat) (Finland), Raimo O. Nieme ­ »for the director’s outstanding achievement of telling a highly entertaining story about man and nature and a boy’s love and respect for the vanishing species of the lynx in the wilds of Finland.« BEST YOUNG ACTOR PRIZE: Konsta Hietanen in Tommy and the Wild Cat (Finland), and Brano Holicek in Sololiar Tomas (Thomas the Falconer) (Slovakia), Vaclav Vorlicek. RUSSIAN COMPETITION, 1991-2001 ­ GRAND PRIZE: Malenkaya prinzessa (Little Princess) (1997), Vladimir Grammatikov. BEST YOUNG ACTRESS: Zina Oborneva in Bezimnaya Lory (Mad Lory) (1991), Leonid Nechayev. BEST YOUNG ACTOR: Yuri Vasilyev in Ballerina (1993), Alexander Zguridi.

Photo: the back cover of an attractive color catalogue published by the INWA Maleratelier (INVA Art Studio), an institution for children in the city of Krasnodar on the Kuban River circa 160 miles south of Rostov. The catalogue contains children’s drawings, sketches, and pictures, some of which are reproductions of icons. These striking examples of children’s art were on display at Hotel Zhemchuzhina on the Black Sea during the first Sochi International Children and Youth Film Festival. The director of the art studio, Nikolai Nikolayevich Galkin, accompanied his young students to the festival, among them the talented Dmitry Barsov. Enquiries to: N.N. Galkin, Krasnaya Street 67, 350 000 Krasnador, Russia, tel +7-8612 53-41-29.