The winners of the XXIV International Debut Film Festival "Spirit of Fire" were awarded in Khanty-Mansiysk

On March 16, the closing ceremony of the XXIV International Debut Film Festival "Spirit of Fire" took place at the Concert and Theater Center ‘Ugra- Classic’ in Khanty-Mansiysk. The festival’s main prize, the ‘Golden Taiga’ for Best Debut Film, was awarded to the Spanish film ‘Deaf’, directed by Eva Libertad García López.

In the Russian debut competition, the film ‘Sanding Dreams’, directed by Anton Mamykin, won. The film also received the award ‘For the Preservation of Cultural Traditions’, the Audience Choice Award ‘Flowers of Taiga Hope’, and three additional prizes.

Festival participants and jury members walked the red carpet, including Fyodor Bondarchuk, Leonid Yarmolnik, Evgeny Margulis, Andrei Proshkin, Sergei Chliyants, Sofia Lebedeva, Leonid Kanevsky, Vladimir Kanukhin, Danila Krasnov, Aram Vardevanyan, Sergey Tsigal, Stasya Tolstaya, Grigory Kalinin, Anna Savranskaya, Ekaterina Channova, Viktoria Maslova, Yulia Marchenko, Anton Pampushnyy, Darya Vereshchagina, and others.

The ceremony was hosted by actress Kristina Babushkina and the quartet ‘Zayachy Ston’. The ceremony was directed by Aleksey Frandetti.

As part of the ‘Your Cinema’ program, the film ‘A Hero for Kobus’, directed by Joel Soisson, received a special mention from the jury. The main prize, the ‘Small Bronze Taiga’, was awarded to the film ‘I Accidentally Wrote a Book’ by Nóra Lakos.

In the ‘Work-in-Progress’ category, the project ‘When the Snow Falls’ by Evgenia Gromova won. The winner received a prize of one million rubles thanks to the ‘Hometowns’ program of Gazprom Neft.

In the short film competition, the ‘Small Silver Taiga’ award went to the film ‘Our Year’ by director Nikolai Kovalenko, and the ‘Small Golden Taiga’ to ‘St Barbara’ by Polina Kapantina. 

In the Russian debut competition, the award for Best Cinematography went to Vladimir Borisov (‘Sanding Dreams’). The award for Best Music went to Said Tolgurov (‘In the Mountains. He’).

The Aleksandr Abdulov Prize for Best Actor was awarded to Mark Eydelshteyn (‘Sanding Dreams’), and for Best Actress to Alla Demidova (‘Greatness of Absence’).

The Audience Choice Award ‘Flowers of Taiga Hope’ was presented to ‘Sanding Dreams’ by the Governor of Ugra, Ruslan Kukharuk.

The Roscongress Foundation Prize ‘Soul of Russia. World Cinema’ went to the film ‘Shape of Momo’ by director Tribeny Rai.

In the international competition, the ‘Bronze Taiga’ went to ‘The Coin’ by Emiliano Dante, and the ‘Silver Taiga’ to ‘Shape of Momo’. The top prize was once again awarded to the film ‘Deaf’.

Emir Kusturica presented Fyodor Bondarchuk with the festival president’s prize ‘For Maintaining the Creative Fire in Russian Cinema’.

The festival was officially closed after the symbolic clap of a film clapperboard.

This year, the “Spirit of Fire” festival was attended by around 30 international guests. As part of the business program, sessions were held focusing on the development of the film industry, support for debut films, animation, and the creation of children and family content.

The festival concluded with a concert-performance by Alexandra Ursulyak, ‘Good Songs’, dedicated to musical hits of past decades.

The “Spirit of Fire” festival is the largest international platform for film debuts in Russia. This year, 56 films from North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East were presented in the competition programs. The thematic focus was ‘Children in Cinema’.

The Spirit of Fire festival is a leading debut film festival in Russia and abroad, and one of the main platforms for young filmmakers. It was founded in 2002 by People’s Artist of the Russian Federation and film director Sergey Solovyov, who served as the festival’s president for nearly twenty years. 

Since 2023, the festival’s president has been the internationally renowned director Emir Kusturica.

The Spirit of Fire festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. 

Since its inception, the festival has also received consistent support from the Government of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra. 

Since 2007, the festival has been supported by Gazprom Neft, which acts as a co-organizer of the festival and its cultural and educational program, and presents the award for Best Russian Film in the category ‘For the Preservation of Cultural Traditions’.

The festival’s communications partner is the Roscongress Foundation.