25/04/2017 - The Ukrainian Film Academy handed out its first National Film Awards at a ceremony held on 20 April at the Fairmont Grand Hotel in Kyiv

After a fairly long wait since they were originally conceived, during the most recent Odessa International Film Festival (see the news), the Ukrainian Film Academy handed out its first National Film Awards at a ceremony on 20 April at the Fairmont Grand Hotel in Kyiv. The initial selection of the films nominated for a Golden Dziga was made by the Ukrainian Film Board. Afterwards, the winners were chosen via a voting system that involved all of the members of the academy, totalling 243 professionals and covering all major film production activities in Ukraine.

Taras Tkachenko’s drama The Nest of the Turtledove [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] dominated the awards after cashing in on six out of the eight Golden Dzigas that it had been nominated for. Legendary actress Larisa Kadochnikova – of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) and The White Bird Marked with Black (1971) fame – received an Honorary Golden Dziga from the members of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, for her contribution to the development of Ukrainian cinema. The guest of honour at the ceremony was acclaimed Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi, while Wim Wenders greeted guests in an exclusive video.

The eighth edition of the Odessa International Film Festival, which instigated the Ukrainian Film Academy and the first National Film Awards, will be held from 14-22 July 2017 in Odessa, Ukraine.

Here is the complete list of winners of the first Ukrainian National Film Awards:

Best Film
The Nest of the Turtledove [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Taras Tkachenko

Best Director (Yuri Illienko Prize)
Taras Tkachenko – The Nest of the Turtledove

Best Actor
Vitaliy Linetskiy (posthumously) – The Nest of the Turtledove

Best Actress
Rimma Zyubina – The Nest of the Turtledove

Best Supporting Actor
Nikolai Boklan – The Nest of the Turtledove

Best Supporting Actress
Natalia Vasko – The Nest of the Turtledove

Best Director of Photography
Nikita Kuzmenko, Alexander Pozdnyakov – The Living Fire [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

Best Art Director
Alexander Batenyev, Sergey Brzhestovskyi – My Grandmother Fanny Kaplan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]

Best Script
Elena Demianenko, Dmitriy Tomashpolskyi – My Grandmother Fanny Kaplan

Best Composer
Alla Zagaykevych - The Living Fire

Best Documentary
The Leading Role [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Serhiy Bukovsky

Best Animated Film
The Dragon Spell [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Manuk Depoyan

Best Short Film
Blood Sausage – Arkadiy Nepytaliuk