During the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity awards ceremony, a special Millennium Bank Award for the Best Ukrainian Film Director was granted to Oleksiy Radynski for the film “Infinity according to Florian”. The director received an award of EUR 4,000.

Millennium Bank Award for the Director of the Best Ukrainian Film: “Infinity According to Florian”, dir. Oleksiy Radynski

Justification of the decision: “For presenting one of Ukraine’s most extraordinary artists, Florian Yuriev, to the world. For refusing to reduce Ukraine to the war narrative. For proving that, in the end, spirituality and art will always prevail over ruthless capital”.

This year, the Young Europe programme made its debut at Millennium Docs Against Gravity. The programme supports young documentary filmmakers from Belarus and Ukraine in the production process. The aim of the initiative is to assist filmmakers in project development, script writing and in the production of trailers. Mirosław Dembiński and Jacek Bławut are in charge of project development. These recognized Polish filmmakers have worked with filmmakers from Eastern Europe for many years. During the 19th Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival, Eastern Europe Against Gravity pitch meetings were held and attended by Belarusian and Ukrainian documentary filmmakers; a number of films were also screened. Pitch meetings were held during the festival under the patronage of TVP Dokument, while the main sponsor of the festival granted the Millennium Bank Award for the Best New Film Project from Eastern Europe in the amount of EUR 6,000 to the film entitled “The Mother of Angels” directed by Tetiana Dorodnitsyn and Andriy Litvinenko.

Millennium Bank Award for the Best New Film Project from Eastern Europe: “The Mother of Angels”, dir. Tetiana Dorodnitsyna and Andriy Litvinienko

Justification: “Whose life is more important: that of a dog or of a rabbit? Of a cat or of a ferret? As human beings, we decided a long time ago that our lives were of the greatest importance. This is why so many of us are surprised that the protagonists of the winning project feel so responsible for the animals that they care for that they refuse to leave their war-torn country. We have decided to grant this award to a film project that has all the hallmarks of a story that is both very intimate and universal, one that viewers throughout the world can relate to. We hope the film will make us rethink what we consider the essence of humanity”.