21/10/2022 - The debut film by Dmytro Sukholitkyy-Sobchuk has cashed in on five of its 11 nominations at the Ukrainian awards ceremony

On the evening of 20 October, the ceremony for the fifth National Film Critics’ Award Kinokolo was held and was broadcast live on Ukraine’s Suspilne Kultura TV channel. This was the first time it had taken place since 2018, when the awards ceremony was held online.

Ukrainian film critics recognised Pamfir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
film profile] as the Best Feature-length Fiction Film. The helmer of the movie, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, was awarded Best Director and Best Screenwriter, and was also given the Opening of the Year Award for Best Feature-length Debut. The lead performer, Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, also received the gong for Best Actor. The movie tells the story of a man who, after earning money abroad, returns home to Western Ukraine on the eve of the traditional Malanka carnival and reconnects with his troubled past. The world premiere of the film took place in the Directors' Fortnight of this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The Best Actress was deemed to be Oksana Cherkashina, the performer of the main role in Klondike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maryna Er Gorbach
film profile] (this being her second Kinokolo statuette after winning one for the film Bad Roads [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Natalya Vorozhbit
film profile] in 2020). In the Best Short Fiction Film category, Are You Okay? by director and screenwriter Natalka Vorozhbyt won the day. It is about a Ukrainian woman in Europe who is traumatised by the war. Infinity: According to Florian [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Oleksiy Radinsky, about legendary Kyiv architect Florian Yuryev, was named Best Documentary Film. The Award for Best Animated Film was scooped by WE, EUROPE, a book trailer for Laurent Gaudet's poem We Are Europe. Banquet of Nations made by Maryna Stepanska and Anna Dudko. Meanwhile, Stanislav Bytiutskyi, Alyona Penziy and Oleksandr Teliuk – film experts from the Dovzhenko Centre state film archive, who in 2022 held a cycle of public screenings of rare Ukrainian movies entitled Strange, Whimsical, Fantastic – received the Award for Achievement, given to Ukrainian authors of works on Ukrainian or foreign cinema, as well as to foreign authors of works on Ukrainian cinema, such as film critics, movie experts, journalists, curators, bloggers and so on.

Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius, who was captured and killed by the Russian military at the end of March during the filming of Mariupolis 2 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], (posthumously) received Special Honours, as did Dmytro "Orest" Kozatsky, a defender of Mariupol who became the co-director of the film The Last Day on Azovstal and disseminated legendary photos from the Azovstal iron and steel works to the entire world.

The National Film Critics’ Award Kinokolo is an annual award established in 2018 that celebrates the achievements of Ukrainian cinematographers and film-industry figures over the past year on behalf of the community of film critics in Ukraine. In previous years, the Best Feature Films of the Year were Stop-Zemlia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kateryna Gornostai
film profile], Atlantis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentyn Vasyanovych
film profile], Homeward [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Donbass [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile].

Traditionally, it takes place on the opening day of the Kyiv Critics' Week – an international art-cinema festival curated by Ukrainian film critics. The sixth Kyiv Critics’ Week will continue until 26 October at the Zhovten cinema.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Feature Film
Pamfir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
interview: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
film profile] - Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/France/Poland/Chile/Luxembourg/Germany)

Best Short Fiction Film
Are You Okay? - Natalka Vorozhbyt (Ukraine)

Best Documentary
Infinity: According to Florian [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Oleksii Radinsky (Ukraine)

Best Animated Film
WE, EUROPE - Maryna Stepanska, Anna Dudko (Ukraine)

Opening of the Year for Best Feature-length Debut
Pamfir - Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

Best Director
Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk – Pamfir

Best Actor
Oleksandr Yatsentyuk - Pamfir

Best Actress
Oksana Cherkashina – Klondike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maryna Er Gorbach
film profile] (Ukraine/Turkey)

Best Film Screenplay (Feature-length or Short Fiction)
Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk - Pamfir

Award for Achievement
Stanislav Bytiutskyi, Alyona Penziy, Oleksandr Teliuk - Strange, Whimsical, Fantastic (Ukraine)

Special Honours
Dmytro "Orest" Kozatskyi
Mantas Kvedaravičius