THE 54TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL “MOLODIST” HAS OPENED IN KYIV

Guests and spectators gathered in the Red Hall of the “House of Cinema” for the opening of the Kyiv International Film Festival “Molodist.” This year, the film festival celebrates its 54th anniversary. The festival’s program includes 158 films from 59 countries, presented across 11 sections. In addition, industry events will take place throughout the entire festival. The media partners of the festival are 1+1 media, Kyivstar TV, and TET.

The opening film was The Apartment by Billy Wilder (1960). The film is screened to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Oscar-winning actor Jack Lemmon, who played one of the leading roles in The Apartment.
The ceremonial opening of the 54th film festival was hosted by Kateryna Olos and Mark Kutsevalov, presenters of the new TET project Mission: Cope.

The event began with words of gratitude to Ukrainian filmmakers who are now defending the country at the front and with the commemoration of those who gave their lives for the freedom of Ukraine.

The Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema, Andriy Osipov, delivered a speech and conveyed from the stage words of gratitude from the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yuliia Svyrydenko, to film and TV producer Serhiy Lavreniuk.

“I want to thank you, Andriy Khalpakhchi, and your entire team, for continuing to carry out this difficult work in such a challenging time. I feel how much effort and nerves you devote to this great task. On behalf of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema, I want to say that we see this work and consider it extremely important. Please, continue,” said Andriy Osipov, Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema.

The General Director of the Kyiv International Film Festival “Molodist,” Andriy Khalpakhchi, presented the honorary Scythian Deer award to Serhiy Mishchenko — President and General Director of the company “ILTA.”

Among the guests were: First Secretary and Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Ukraine Klodoaldo Lamcha; Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain in Ukraine Antonio Santamaria Pargada; Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Italian Republic in Ukraine Francesco Pesce; Deputy Head of Mission / Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in Ukraine Mothusi Choeyuni; General Director of KMIFF “Molodist” Andriy Khalpakhchi; programmer and director of the SUNNY BUNNY Film Festival Bohdan Zhuk; Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema Andriy Osipov; actress Rymma Zyubina; Chair of the International Jury Joanna Lapinska; member of the international jury Antoine Arjakovsky; producer and member of the International Competition Jury Valeria Sochivets; member of the International Competition Jury Luka Chikovani; member of the international jury, screenwriter, and playwright Liubov Yakymchuk; member of the documentary competition jury, programmer Tor Fosse; Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Lithuania in Ukraine Donatas Butkus; director and producer Oleksa Hladushevskyi; Head of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine Serhiy Bordeniuk; director and cinematographer Yurii Dunai; director and screenwriter Solomiia Tomashchuk, and others.

The General Director of the Kyiv International Film Festival “Molodist,” Andriy Khalpakhchi, stated:

“It seems to me that we have truly recreated the atmosphere of the ‘Molodist’ Film Festival of 1970. I am happy that for the second consecutive year, the ‘Molodist’ Film Festival has returned to the House of Cinema of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine. There was a time when people stormed the windows of the House of Cinema to see films that had been banned for many years. I want to thank the jury members and international participants, the participants of our Ukrainian programs, and I especially want to express gratitude to our viewers — when we come out to you, present films, and see your eyes, we realize that the work of the festival is important, and we do it for you.”

As is now traditional, the festival features the initiative “Letters to Free Crimea,” organized by the Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukrainian PEN, and the Human Rights Center ZMINA, joined by the media initiative Crimea Daily, NGO KrymSOS, and NGO Crimean Process. Within the campaign, everyone can write letters to unlawfully imprisoned citizens of Ukraine held by the occupiers in Crimea or illegally transferred from the occupied Crimea to the territory of the Russian Federation.

Today, in the temporarily occupied Crimea and the territory of the Russian Federation, at least 222 people are being unlawfully detained, of whom 133 are Crimean Tatars. They are persecuted for their ethnic, political, and religious affiliation, accused of “separatism” or “terrorism,” subjected to torture, with fabricated cases and sentences of decades in prison.

JURY OF THE 54TH KMIFF 

International Competition Jury

• Joanna Lapinska

Member of the European Film Academy. Artistic Director of FPFF in Gdynia.
Poland

Member of the European Film Academy, Artistic Director of FPFF in Gdynia. Graduated from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw, culture manager with many years of experience. From 2002–2016, she was associated with the “New Horizons” Festival, from 2007 — as Artistic Director. Initiator of Studio Nowe Horyzonty and Polish Days. In 2016–2020 — Program Director of the Transatlantyk Festival. Also created the professional event Lodołamacz. Before becoming the Artistic Director of the festival in Gdynia, she headed Gdynia Industry. Expert of PISF, the Łódź Film Council, and the Mazovian and Warsaw Film Funds.

• Luka Chikovani

Songwriter. Actor.
Georgia / Italy

Luka Chikovani was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. Due to the post-war situation and civil war, Luka and his mother emigrated to Rome, Italy. He first gained popularity as one of Italy’s first well-known YouTubers, earning millions of views for his song covers. Later, he signed a contract with Universal Music and released the successful debut EP Start, which entered Italy’s Top 3 albums. He was then noticed by director Alice Rohrwacher and debuted in cinema with the film HAPPY AS LAZZARO, which received wide acclaim and numerous international awards. In recent years, Luka has been actively involved in humanitarian work in conflict zones. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he organized humanitarian missions — initially independently, then in cooperation with major organizations such as Hope Ukraine, the International Red Cross, and the Chamber of Commerce. The worsening situation in his homeland, Georgia, led him to activism. He is currently engaged in socio-political work aimed at supporting the young generation in Georgia and Europe.

• Valeria Sochivets

Film producer and director. Co-founder of Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema (CUC). Member of the European Film Academy and the Ukrainian Film Academy Board.
Ukraine

Valeria Sochivets is a Ukrainian film producer, director, and co-founder of Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema (CUC). Her films have been presented at international festivals in Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand, Sarajevo, Vilnius, San Sebastián, Palm Springs, and have received over 30 awards. Key works include LA PALISIADA (Ukraine’s official Oscar candidate for 2024), ZARVANYTSIA, THE HOUSE BEHIND THE GLASS, and WITH EYES CLOSED. Valeria is a graduate of KNUTKiT Karpenko-Karyi, participant of Berlinale Talents and Sarajevo Talents, and a member of both the Ukrainian and European Film Academies. She actively supports new voices in Ukrainian cinema and develops international co-productions. As a director, she is working on her feature debut THE CURTAIN.

• Antoine Arjakovsky

Historian. Director of Research at the Collège des Bernardins.
France

Antoine Arjakovsky is a French historian and Director of Research at the Collège des Bernardins (Paris, France). Previously, he headed the French Institute in Ukraine and worked as Cultural Attaché for Cinema at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has published about twenty books, some translated into Ukrainian, such as Ukraine’s Discord with Russia (Kharkiv, Vivat, 2022). From 2002 to 2011, he was the founder and director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.

• Liubov Yakymchuk

Screenwriter, poet, and playwright. Laureate of numerous national and international awards.
Ukraine

Author of the screenplay for the feature film THE HOUSE “SLOVO.” THE ENDLESS NOVEL and the documentary THE HOUSE “SLOVO” (co-written with director T. Tomenko). Author of poetry collections Apricots of Donbas and As Fashion, as well as the play The Wall, created for the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre in Kyiv, and the short play Schrödinger’s Cat — for Vienna’s Volkstheater.
Her musical collaborations and poetry performances have taken place in Ukraine, EU countries, the USA, and India. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, BBC, CBC, and CNN. In 2025, Liubov Yakymchuk received the Ukrainian Film Academy’s Golden Dziga award for Best Screenplay, as well as several other distinctions in film and literature.

Documentary Competition Jury

• Tor Fosse

Festival Director and Program Coordinator.
Norway

Best known as the Director and Head of Programming for the Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF). He led the festival from its founding in 2000 and held the position for 24 years.
He co-founded the distribution company Arthaus and the Tromsø International Film Festival and played a key role in the Norwegian film club movement.
In 2019, he received the prestigious Film Club Award from the Norwegian Federation of Film Clubs for his dedication to film culture and his outstanding contribution to its development.

• Volodymyr Mula

Honored Artist of Ukraine, EMMY Award winner, director, producer.
Ukraine

Volodymyr Mula is a Ukrainian director and producer from Ivano-Frankivsk region, founder of the production company TeleProstir Studio. He gained recognition as a sports reporter covering the FIFA World Cup (2014), Olympic Games (2016, 2018), and UEFA Euro 2016 for leading Ukrainian and international media (BBC Ukraine, 1+1, ICTV, Hromadske TV). Since 2015, he has focused on documentary film. Author of AMERICAN DREAM (2016) and AMERICAN DREAM: IN SEARCH OF THE TRUTH (2017). His film UKE (2020), about Ukrainian Stanley Cup winners, became the highest-grossing documentary in Ukraine. He also directed NATION OF FOOTBALL (2021) for the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s national team.
In 2022, he co-directed the international documentary project FOOTBALL MUST GO ON, which won an EMMY Award in 2024.

• Yolande Zauberman

Film director and screenwriter.
France

Born in Paris, Yolande Zauberman was introduced to cinema through director Amos Gitai. In 1987, she made her first documentary CLASSIFIED PEOPLE about apartheid in South Africa, which received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix of the Paris Film Festival. In 1993, she directed her first feature film in Yiddish, I AM IVAN, YOU ARE ABRAHAM, which won several international awards, including the Youth Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Her documentary THE BEAUTY FROM GAZA was presented in the “Panorama” program at the Sunny Bunny Queer Festival 2025 in Kyiv.

• Giuseppe Garau

Screenwriter. Director.
Italy

Giuseppe Garau is an Italian director passionate about the grammar of cinema. His style, shaped by the raw energy of hardcore punk, stands out for its boldness and uncompromising nature. The international premiere of his debut feature took place at the Molodist Film Festival in 2023. In 2024, the film won the Jury Grand Prix at the Slamdance Festival. This success marked the emergence of a new distinctive voice in independent cinema.

• J. D. Fernández Molero

Director. Screenwriter. Editor. Producer.
Peru

Juan Daniel Fernández Molero (b. 1987) is a Peruvian director, producer, and film editor. Known for his experimental documentary REMINISCENCIAS (2010), which participated in FIDMarseille and MoMA’s Modern Mondays avant-garde cinema program (New York), and his post-internet film VIDEOFILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES) (2015), which won the Tiger Award at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam and was Peru’s entry for the 89th Academy Awards.
His second feature, the hybrid fiction film THE GATE (2025), premiered in the “Forum” section of the 75th Berlinale. It won the Grand Prix at the 25th New Horizons IFF (Wrocław) and Best Feature Film at the 15th Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF).
As an editor, he worked on ALBA (2016), THE LOST INCA CAT (2019), and UAKERO (2024); for the latter, he received the Artistic Achievement Award (Best Editing) at the 19th International Film Festival in Belo Horizonte.

National Competition Jury

• Gala Kozyutynska

Director and film editor.
Ukraine

Gala’s debut documentary STORKS ALWAYS COME HOME received top awards at Ukrainian film festivals “Molodist” and Wiz-Art, and was screened at numerous international film festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Brussels Short Film Festival, and Interfilm ISFF Berlin.
She is the Creative Director of What If Creative Studio and founder of the Attic Art Residency named after Viktor Petrov. She lives in Lviv.

• J. D. Fernández Molero

Director. Screenwriter. Editor. Producer

Peru

Juan Daniel Fernández Molero (b. 1987) is a Peruvian director, producer, and film editor. He is known for the experimental documentary REMEMBRANCES (2010), which participated in the FIDMarseille festival and in the prestigious avant-garde film program Modern Mondays at MoMA (New York), as well as for the post-internet film VIDEOPHILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES) (2015). The latter won the main Tiger Award at the 44th International Film Festival Rotterdam and was Peru’s submission for the 89th Academy Awards.

His second feature film, the hybrid fiction THE GATE (2025), had its world premiere in the Forum section of the 75th Berlinale. The film won the Grand Prix at the 25th New Horizons International Film Festival (Wrocław) and the award for Best Feature Film at the 15th Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF).

As a film editor, he worked on ALBA (2016), THE LOST KITTEN OF THE INCAS (2019), and UAKERO (2024); for the latter, he received the Artistic Achievement Award (Best Editing) at the 19th Belo Horizonte International Film Festival.

• Giuseppe Garau

Screenwriter. Director

Italy

Giuseppe Garau is an Italian filmmaker passionate about the grammar of cinema. His style, shaped by the raw energy of hardcore punk, is distinguished by boldness and uncompromising expression. The international premiere of his debut feature took place at the Molodist Film Festival in 2023. Already in 2024, the film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival. This success marked the emergence of a new distinctive voice in independent cinema.

The festival is held with the support of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema and the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine.