Ukrainian Project 'Vacuum' Wins Award at Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Elizaveta Smith's feature-length debut project ‘Vacuum’ received the Eurimages Special Co-production Development Award at the KVIFF Eastern Promises industry platform in the new KVIFF Central Stage section at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to Derzhkino.

The Eurimages award was given to the Ukrainian project, with the jury deciding to award a special cash prize for the further development of the film Vacuum, directed and written by Yelizaveta Smith and produced by Yevgen Rachkovsky.

‘We are proud to award this Ukrainian debut feature film project, which takes place in Odesa. The film explores the universal impact of loss and how absence shapes identity and communities, emphasising the importance of memory before it is too late,’ the jury said in a statement.

Co-producers Antonia Kilian from PINK SHADOW FILMS (Germany) and Ralph Wieser from Mischief Films (Austria) have joined the project team.

The project is being developed by the Ukrainian company Tabor.

Eurimages is the Council of Europe's film support fund, established in 1988 to encourage European cooperation in film production. It provides funding for co-productions, distribution and exhibition support, as well as script and film project development.

Eurimages has more than 40 member countries, including Ukraine.

The Eurimages Co-production Development Award is given to promising projects that promote international co-production, cultural diversity and the development of the European film industry.

Earlier, it was announced that Ukrainian director Dmytro Hreshko's film Divia is competing for the main prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.