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Northern Lights Film Festival

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Northern Lights Nordic-Baltic Film Festival
Founded2015
DirectorsVolia Chajkouskaya
Websitehttps://www.en.northernlightsff.com/

The Northern Lights Nordic-Baltic Film Festival (Belarusian: Паўночнае ззянне) is an independent Belarusian film festival launched in 2015. The festival promotes cinema from Scandinavian and Baltic countries and serves as an industrial platform for independent filmmakers. In 2022, the festival partnered with the Tallinn Black Nights and turned into a hybrid event with online screenings available for Belarusians and on-site screenings in Estonia and Lithuania.

Profile

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The festival was launched in 2015 in order to promote Belarusian independent cinema outside the country, present Baltic and Scandinavian films to Belarusian audiences, and to create a platform for filmmakers to communicate and collaborate on future projects.[1][2][3][4] The festival is directed and produced by Volia Chajkouskaya,[5] the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania is the event's main organizer. The festival is co-managed and supported by Norwegian Embassy in Kiev and Danish Cultural Institute in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.[6] Annually, the festival lasts a week and offers a competition section, a retrospective program, children program “Zzya-kids” as well as 7 industrial platforms.[7] Three competition programs are Belarusian competition, Debut and Shortcut.[8] Northern Lights represents films from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Greenland.[6][9] In 2015–20, Mir cinema hall in Minsk was the event's main venue,[10] but the event expanded into other cities – Vitebsk, Tallinn, etc.[11] In 2017, the tickets were sold out before the opening day. That year, 14 feature films were selected for the program.[12]

In 2020 the festival went online due to Covid-19 restrictions and Mass protests in Belarus after the infamous 2020 presidential elections.[13] In 2021, the festival went online again, this time by decision of the management team.[14] That year, 24 feature films were selected for the competition judged by a professional jury.[15]

Since 2022 Northern Lights has collaborated with Tallinn Black Nights. In its new form, the festival is held as a hybrid event with on-site screenings in Estonia and Lithuania and a line-up of 40 films from Belarus, Ukraine and the Nordic-Baltic region available online for Belarusians all over the world.[16][1][17] The online screenings are free and the audience is welcomed to support the event with donations.[18] In 2022, Ukraine mon amour section was established as a sign of support to Ukraine.[19]

In 2023, the festival doubled its attendance in comparison to 2022.[20] Also, the 2023 edition became the first one when the winners were given money prizes, sponsored by Current time channel.[21]

Winners

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  • 2021 — Papa by Maria Yakimovich;[22]
  • 2022 — The Dream, documentary by Sasha Kulak;[23]
  • 2023 — Motherland (Belarusian: Радзіма) by Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Belarusian industry professionals work on "bridging the gap" at Tallinn Black Nights". Cineuropa. 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  2. ^ "Volia Chajkouskaya". Institute of documentary film. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  3. ^ Cunnigham, Nick (2022-11-17). "Northern Lights Nordic/Baltic Film Fest: Director and founder Volia Chajkouskaya". Business Doc Europe. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  4. ^ Abbatescianni, Davide (2023-11-21). "Volia Chajkouskaya Founder and programme director, Northern Lights Nordic-Baltic Film Festival". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  5. ^ "Выясняем, почему на фесте "Северное сияние" становится больше фильмов о женщинах" [Why there are more films about women at Northern Lights Film Festival] (in Russian). Euroradio. 2018-04-14. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  6. ^ a b "5th Nordic-Baltic film festival "Northern Lights" in Belarus". Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  7. ^ "Northern Lights Nordic-Baltic FF 2019". Dansk Kultur Institut. 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  8. ^ "Competition". Northern Lights Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  9. ^ "Два фильма фестиваля "Паўночнае ззянне" покажут в Минском планетарии" [Two films of the festival ‘Northern Lights’ will be screened in Minsk planetarium] (in Russian). Minsk Novosti. 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  10. ^ "Фестиваль "Северное сияние" объявил конкурс постеров" [Northern Lights Film Festival announces poster competition] (in Russian). World Podium. 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  11. ^ "Восемь картин фестиваля кино \"Паўночнае ззянне\" покажут в Витебске" [Eight films of the ‘Night Vision’ film festival will be screened in Vitebsk] (in Russian). Belta. 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  12. ^ "Столичные киноманы увидят 19-25 апреля "Паўночнае ззянне" из 14 фильмов" [On 19–25 April, the capital's cinephiles will see the ‘Northern Lights’ of 14 films] (in Russian). Minsk News. 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  13. ^ Khoroshilova, T. (2021-07-26). "VII фестиваль кино "Паўночнае ззянне" пройдет в онлайн-формате" [VII Northern Lights Film Festival to go online] (in Russian). Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  14. ^ ""В три раза больше работы". Фестиваль кино "Паўночнае ззянне" перевели в онлайн" [‘Three times more work’ Northern Lights Film Festival goes online] (in Russian). Dev.by. 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  15. ^ "Железные леди, шахтеры и дикие моря. Топ-5 фильмов фестиваля "Паўночнае ззянне"" [Iron Ladies, Miners and Wild seas: Top-5 features at Northern Lights Film Festival] (in Russian). Current Time. 2021-09-20. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  16. ^ "Приближается очередной кинофестиваль "Паўночнае ззянне" — организаторы показали концепцию, манифест и трейлер" [Northern Lights Film Festival team reveals concept, teaser and manifesto] (in Russian). News Zerkalo Io. 2023-10-12. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  17. ^ ""Беларуская программа будет довольно смелая". Директорка кинофеста "Паўночнае ззянне" – о том, каким будет фест в этом году" [‘The Belarusian programme will be quite bold’. The director of the film festival ‘Paunochnoe zzianne’ - what the festival will be like this year] (in Russian). Citydog. 2022-09-02. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  18. ^ "Кинофестиваль "Северное сияние" озвучил международную программу. Вот какие 17 фильмов покажут" [Northern Lights Film Festival Line-up revealed] (in Russian). Nasha Niva. 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  19. ^ "На кинофестивале "Паўночнае ззянне" покажут онлайн украинские документалки". Nasha Niva. 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  20. ^ "Какой фильм был самым популярным у зрителей? Сколько денег получили победители? Итоги кинофестиваля "Паўночнае ззянне"" [Which film was the most popular with the audience? How much money did the winners receive? Results of the film festival ‘Northern Lights’] (in Russian). Zerkalo. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  21. ^ "Какие фильмы победили на кинофестивале "Паўночнае ззянне" и какой стал самым популярным" [Winners at Northern Lights Film Festival] (in Russian). Nasha Niva. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  22. ^ "«ПАЎНОЧНАЕ ЗЗЯННЕ»-2021 В ЦИФРАХ: подводим итоги кинофестиваля" [Northern Lights-2021 in numbers: results] (in Russian). Telegraf News. 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  23. ^ "Film about Belarusian protests wins at festival". Euroradio. 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  24. ^ "Northern Lights Film Festival 2023 Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-08-28.


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