18/11/2024 - Ukrainian Zhanna Ozirna bags the Golden Atlas, while Romania’s Bogdan Mureșanu scoops the Silver Atlas for Best Director thanks to The New Year That Never Came

Director Zhanna Ozirna, winner of the Golden Atlas for Honeymoon, with the festival's jury (© Léa Rener/Arras Film Festival)

Presided over by filmmakers Abel and Gordon (who were flanked by Sébastien Betbeder, Lou de Laâge and Suzanne de Baecque), the competition jury of the 25th Arras Film Festival has awarded its Golden Atlas - Grand Jury Prize (consisting of 12,000 euros for the film’s French distributer) to Honeymoon [+see also:
film review
interview: Zhanna Ozirna
film profile] by Ukrainian director Zhanna Ozirna.

Unveiled in the Venice Film Festival’s Biennale College Cinema section and sold worldwide by British firm Reason8, Honeymoon takes us back to February 2022. Olya and Taras are happy to be spending their first night in their new apartment. But at daybreak, they’re awoken by a series of explosions. The Russian invasion has begun, and the young couple find themselves trapped in their home, surrounded by enemy soldiers…

The Silver Atlas Prize for Director (endowed with 5,000 euros, courtesy of the Hauts de France region) was won by Romanian Bogdan Mureșanu by way of The New Year That Never Came [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan Mureşanu
film profile], which also walked away with the Youth Jury Prize, as decided upon by high-schoolers. The winner of Venice’s Orizzonti Prize back in September, the film follows the fate of six people who cross paths over the course of a day unlike any other: 20 December 1989, when Romania is on the verge of revolution but the authorities are organising New Year’s festivities as if nothing were happening. Sold worldwide by Cercamon, the movie will be distributed in French cinemas on 26 March via Memento.

Likewise of note, the main jury awarded a Special Mention to Dwelling Among the Gods [+see also:
film review
interview: Vuk Ršumović and Fereshteh …
film profile] by Serbia’s Vuk Rsumovic, which enjoyed its world premiere in competition in Sarajevo, while the Audience Award (endowed with 6,000 euros for the film’s French distributer, courtesy of the Pas-de-Calais department) went to Waves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jiří Mádl
film profile] by Czech director Jiří Mádl and the Critics’ Prize to The Hunt for Meral O. [+see also:
film review
interview: Stijn Bouma
film profile] by the Netherlands’ Stijn Bouma.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Golden Atlas - Grand Jury Prize
Honeymoon [+see also:
film review
interview: Zhanna Ozirna
film profile] - Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine)

Silver Atlas – Best Director
The New Year That Never Came [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan Mureşanu
film profile] - Bogdan Mureșanu (Romania/Serbia)

Special Mention
Dwelling Among the Gods [+see also:
film review
interview: Vuk Ršumović and Fereshteh …
film profile] - Vuk Rsumovic (Serbia/Italy/Croatia)

Other awards

Audience Award
Waves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jiří Mádl
film profile] - Jiří Mádl (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

SFCC Critics’ Prize
The Hunt for Meral O. [+see also:
film review
interview: Stijn Bouma
film profile] - Stijn Bouma (the Netherlands)

Youth Jury Prize - Hauts-de-France Region
The New Year That Never Came - Bogdan Mureșanu

(Translated from French)