Mariupolis 2 Wins Special Prize
On May 28 the 75 International Film Festival at Cannes announced its awards. A special documentary film award was awarded to the late director, cultural anthropologist Mantas Kvedaravičius for his last work “Mariupolis 2”.
The jury noted that the film, described as radical, bold, artistic and existential, was unlike any other entry in the contest.
Director Kvedaravičius is one of the thousands of civilians killed by the Russian army. The documentary premiered with other “Cannes Premiers”, and was finished by Dounia Sichov, Kvedaravičius colleague and his fiancée Hanna Bilobrova.
At the festival, “Mariupolis 2” attracted a great deal of interest from the press and film critics alike as the true document of the war in Ukraine, a mosaic of snapshots of a city suffering war. Kvedaravičius created the first “Mariupolis” in 2016, with its premier at the Berlin Film Festival. It was later shown at the international film festivals then in Hongkong, Warsaw, and Lausanne.
The film Mariupolis 2 is described as the here and now of a city being destroyed. “Do you know what was totally unbelievable in Mariupol? No one was afraid of death, even if they thought they were. Death was right there, and everyone wanted to die meaningfully. People helped one another without thinking of the risk to themselves. They chatted outside, smoking, even while the bombs were falling. Money no longer exited, because life became to short to think about it. Everyone was happy with what they had and became a better version of themselves. There was no past, no future, no judgment, no hypocrisy! It was heaven in hell. The touch of butterfly wings. The smell of the value of life. That was life there.”
Kvedaravičius created five films, all of which were successful and well-rated by both professionals and viewers. His first film “Barzakh” (2011) about Chechens who had disappeared, and the traumas endured by their loved ones premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and received the Ecumenical Jury and Amnesty International awards. It expanded on his academic study about death, dreams and the disappearance of people in the terrorist battle zone of Chechnya. His film “Partenonas” premiered at the 2019 Festival in Venice.
