2024-12-16 14:59:00
The XXX Human Rights Film Festival “Stalker” has ended in Moscow. It took place for the last time within the walls of the House of Cinema, which Nikita Mikhalkov’s team is ready to demolish in January, even if it would stand, it is built to last. Directors who received awards forever hailed him.
As the hour of death of the House of Cinema approaches, they hurry to turn off the heating, without thinking about the public. During the days of the festival, people sat in outerwear, did not leave after the screening and sometimes discussed completely unexpected topics with the authors of the films. After Ivan Sosnin’s “The Alien”, where the eccentric village played by Maxim Stoyanov collects garbage, creating a picturesque home from it, directed towards the sky, the public talked about ecology in the highest sense of the word. And the habitual behavior of a person striving for order causes bewilderment among others. One of the spectators admitted that he also cleaned up garbage on the streets and in response he heard only ridicule.
Documentary classic Vladimir Gerchikov, whose film “Eternal Theme” received the main prize in the non-fiction film competition, addressed the audience with a farewell speech: “I look at this hall and I am glad that people came . There are many of them. And something will remain after what they saw in the festival program. At the same time, I think that soon this hall will no longer exist. It’s a shame.”
Vladimir Gerochik with the main award for documentary film. Photo — Irina Kretova, Festival press service
One of the heroes of the “Eternal Theme”, dedicated to the human right to a dignified death, will say that, being on the verge of death, a person turns to God with his pain. And the greatest pain is when you hurt a loved one. And as the director himself will add, even a beautiful death is a dream.
Human rights activist, writer and documentary filmmaker Alexei Simonov, who was on the jury, took the film very personally: “It would seem a simple thing: here there is life, but here there is death. The line is very thin. I felt it myself literally two weeks ago, lying on the operating table.”
Director Valery Akhadov, in response to the remarks of some speakers, noted: “Who said that there are few films about human rights? Every good film is about human rights. What else can young and experienced creators talk about if not the right to life, love and work? We may not even know all our rights.” For the best feature film he presented the Philately prize to Natalya Nazarova, who opened the festival. The prize was awarded to the leading actress, a modest postal worker with mild cerebral palsy, Alina Khojevanova. In addition to the jury prize, he also received a special prize from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Our film is about the strength of spirit and uniqueness of each person,” said this wonderful actress. “We traveled with him to many festivals and received so much human warmth and gratitude.”
Alina Khojevanova played the main role in philately. Photo — Irina Kretova, Festival press service
For the second time the prize was awarded in the name of Vadim Abdrashitov, who served as president of Stalker only for a short time, replacing Marlen Khutsiev. The award went to “The Last Price” by Naur Garmelia, which in one year has already received 20 awards across the country. However, it didn’t even have a limited release, like many other films.
The special prize named after Marlen Khutsiev went to the first work “Swallow” by Malika Mukhamedzhan “for the poetics of the dissatisfied”. Director Andrei Osipov, a brutal man with a kind soul, gave a heartfelt speech: “This is a very poetic, imaginative, moody, atmospheric work. Since childhood, we have become accustomed to the fact that a man and a woman are two halves floating somewhere in space, that only they meet and happiness arises. It seems to me that this is not entirely true. Each half has thousands of other halves with which a person can be happy. This is exactly what “Swallow” is about. More than half of marriages end in divorce. It can be difficult to find your soulmate right away. A film about the dissatisfied.”
The jury awarded another debut film, “Blank Slate” by Polina Kondratyeva, with the “Stalker. Debut”. As the very young director will say, her heroine, played by Polina Tsyganova, is looking for inner freedom and meets those who will help her find it.
The award named after Valery Frid, another missing classic, for best screenplay went to the Yakut authors Nikolai Koryakin and Sandal Nikanorov, again for their debut “Timir”. This film is subtle, atmospheric, about an orphaned child.
Award named after Sergei Govorukhin received the documentary “Paramedic” by Sergei Martyanov from Yekaterinburg, who worked on his film for four years. In a city in the north of the Sverdlovsk region there is nowhere to work, except in a shop, in the police or in a correctional colony. The main character works in the ambulance brigade of the city of Novaya Lyalya. According to the director, these people work in very harsh conditions, they do good every day, perhaps without even thinking about it. They are real angels, they save people, help them and ask for nothing in return.
Grigory Danishevsky closed the festival with his performance. Photo — Irina Kretova, Festival press service
Andrei Osipov, greeting the House of Cinema and the festival, which is now unclear where it will be located, said that the films that manage to be shown there are not made for entertainment and relaxation. They require a lot of mental work, make us think, sympathize, worry and, through compassion and mercy, help us find the meaning of our existence. During the final of the festival, the actor suffering from Down syndrome Grigory Danishevsky appeared on stage, having played the main role in the film “Philip’s Rules” by Roman Kosov. He spoke simple words, after which you begin to appreciate every moment of life.
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