Honeymoon (Medovyi Misiats) by Ukrainian director Zhanna Ozirna (12. Biennale College Cinema), which had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and was produced thanks to a €200,000 grant awarded by La Biennale di Venezia, won the first edition of the Build Your Dream award at Cannes, instituted by BYD and Mediawan and consisting of a €40,000 prize.
The film had previously won the Youth Jury Award and Critics’ Choice Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival and the Albert Wiederspiel Award at the Hamburg Film Festival, and had two special mentions for best director and best screenplay at the Cinema Jove – Valencia International Film Festival.
The film tells the story of Taras and Olya, a Ukrainian couple who, at the dawn of the Russian invasion of 24 February 2022, find themselves trapped in their apartment near Kiev.
The two remain isolated and under constant threat of death, facing five days of dramatic captivity and united by the desperate aim of hiding and planning their escape.
The film’s director, Ozirna, commented on winning the award: “I’m incredibly thankful and moved to receive the ‘Build Your Dream Award’.
“I started making this film with a desire to speak about my generation – young, creative and intellectually free people whose lives were suddenly transformed by war.
“In a time when making independent cinema in Ukraine has become especially difficult, this support feels deeply meaningful.
“I believe cinema has the power to preserve memory and human experience, and this award gives me strength to continue exploring human nature through the language of cinema.”
Biennale College Cinema is a project by La Biennale di Venezia, addressed since 2012 to emerging filmmakers for the production of micro-budget feature films.
