Critics name the best of Russian film in 2018 White Elephant awards as Serebrennikov trial continues

While awards season rages on in Hollywood, Russian film critics have announced their own picks for the best Russian cinema had to offer in 2018. The annual White Elephant awards, which are distributed by the Russian Guild of Film Critics, were presented January 11 in Moscow’s House of Cinema.

The cast and crew of Alexey Fedorchenko’s Anna’s War (Voyna Anny) shone throughout the evening. The historical drama centers on a six-year-old girl who maintains her dignity in hiding after surviving a mass execution during the Holocaust. Anna’s War was named the best film of 2018, and its eight-year-old star, Marta Kozlova, received the award for Best Actress. Kirill Serebrennikov’s Summer (Leto), a highly well-received biopic of the rock star Viktor Tsoi, matched Anna’s War for the highest number of awards.

TASS reported that the crew of Summer was unable to attend Friday’s award ceremony. Serebrennikov, the film’s director, is on trial for embezzlement along with other employees of the “Seventh Studio” art house after spending more than a year under house arrest. Numerous prominent figures in the media and the arts have argued that the case is politically motivated, and Serebrennikov denies the charges against him.

A list of this year’s White Elephant winners was published by TASS, Séance, and a number of other sources. It is provided in English below.

Best Film: Anna’s War (Voyna Anny). Directed by Alexey Fedorchenko and produced by Andrey Savelyev, Artyom Vasilyev, and Maxim Lozhevsky

Best Director: Kirill Serebrennikov for Summer (Leto)

Best Screenplay: Avdotya Smirnova, Anna Parmas, and Pavel Basinsky for The Story of an Appointment (Istoriya odnogo naznacheniya)

Best Cinematography: Alisher Khamidkhodzhaev for Anna’s War

Best Art Direction: Andrey Ponkratov for Summer

Best Score: Roman Bilyk and Herman Osipov for Summer and Leonid Desiatnikov and Alexey Sergunin for The Van Goghs (Van Gogi)

Best Actress: Marta Kozlova for Anna’s War

Best Actor: Yevgeny Tsyganov for The Man Who Surprised Everyone (Chelovek, kotory udivil vsekh)

Best Supporting Actress: Yelena Korenova for The Van Goghs

Best Supporting Actor: Dmitry Podnozov for The Heart of the World (Serdtse mira)

Best Debut: Crystal (Khrustal). Directed by Darya Zhuk and produced by Dmitry Osmerkin, Olga Goyster, Valery Dmitrochenko, and Birgit Gernbok

Best Documentary: Watercolors (Akvarel). Directed by Viktor Kosakovsky

Best Animated Feature: Mitya’s Love (Mitina lyubov). Directed by Svetlana Filippova

Miron Chernenko Prize: Kirill Serebrennikov for his impressive symbiosis of theater and film

Golos Prize (awarded by young critics): Call DiCaprio! (Zvonite DiCaprio!). TV series directed by Zhora Kryzhovnikov