By Daria Tarasova: Yesterday saw the closing ceremony of the 23rd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad. This year’s Festival, held under the motto Towards Inspiration, featured 161 films from 52 countries as part of the competition and out-of-competition programmes.
A total of 26 awards were presented at this year’s Listapad. Its main prize - the Golden Maple Leaf - went to the Hungarian film Lily Lane. Listapad’s silver was awarded to the religious western Mimosas. The Audience Award, or Listapad’s bronze, went to the Bulgarian-Greek movie Glory. The special prize of the President of the Republic of Belarus For Humanism and Spirituality in Cinema was presented to the Japanese film Raia No Inori.
For the first time the Listapad Film Festival featured an award presented by the Guild of Film Critics of the Belarusian Union of Cinematographers. The Straw Bison was awarded to Belarusian director Dmitry Makhomet.
Traditionally, the Festival ended with a premiere - Afterimage by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. It is a biopic about Polish and Belarusian avant-garde artist of the 20th century Wladyslaw Strzeminski.
Five films, including the winners, will be shown in Minsk cinemas for two weeks.












