Graduation Project of HSE Art and Design Graduate Wins Grand Prix at ‘Saint Anna’ Film Festival

Shots from the film ‘Lelera’, 2023 (directed by Nikolay Kovalenko)

The 31st ‘Saint Anna’ Open Festival of Student and Debut Films was held in Moscow on April 12th-17th, 2024. Nikolay Kovalenko, graduate of Ivan I. Tverdovsky's workshop in ‘Screen Arts’, received the Grand Prix for his graduation project ‘Lelera’, while his classmate, Alina Sorokina, won the Mosfilm prize.

The ‘Saint Anna’ awards ceremony took place on April 17th. Nikita Mikhalkov, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the festival, gave a speech at the ceremony: "The festival has uncovered many talented young directors and actors. I would like to congratulate all those who received an award in the various categories. I also want to recognise all those who participated and were selected for the competition, because this is also very important. I especially want to congratulate Nikolay Kovalenko on winning the Grand Prix for his film ‘Lelera’. Nikita Mikhalkov then presented a prize of 150,000 roubles to Nikolay.

Nikolay spoke to HSE News Service about his impressions: ‘I will always remember the 31st Saint Anna Festival, with its screening in the Tretyakov Gallery, where my parents watched the film for the first time. I was really looking forward to this moment, because my dad helped me on the set of ‘Lelera’, and my mom, I think, should have felt this story better than anyone. Of course, I can't help but talk about the closing ceremony and the main prize for our film. I was sitting in the hall, holding my stuff, and was ready to leave as I did not expect to hear ‘Lelera’ and my name at all. Honestly, I still can’t quite believe it happened. Thanks to everyone involved in this event! Special thanks to my supervisor Ivan Tverdovsky. It turns out that three years together at HSE Art and Design School really paid off! I plan to spend the prize money on preparation for a possible documentary. For a long time I’ve not had the financial opportunity to do it, but now I do!’

St. Anna is an annual festival of student and debut films, which has been held in Moscow since 1994. In 2024, 800 films were submitted to the festival, 132 films were selected for the shortlist: 85 feature films, 32 animated films and 15 documentaries.

Ivan Tverdovsky

Creative Director of the ‘Screen Arts’ track at the HSE Art and Design School, film director, screenwriter, laureate of Russian and international film festivals, member of the European Film Academy

 ‘”Saint Anna” has a pretty long history and tradition. For 31 consecutive years, this has been the most important festival for students, giving them the opportunity to prove themselves in the industry. It’s kind of an unspoken test for all Russian film schools. During my student days, I participated in the Saint Anna competition several times, but only once was I awarded a certificate with my name on. After my studies I have never felt as nervous at any other festival as I did at “Saint Anna”. Therefore, today I feel immensely proud of our students, Nikolay and Alina, from our Art and Design School. There were 132 films in the competition and only 2 of them were shot by our students. And they both won in the festival. It's amazing!’

Alina Sorokina is another graduate of the workshop of Ivan I. Tverdovsky who triumphed in the ‘Saint Anna’ competition in 2024. Her short film ‘The End of the World, My Love’ won the Mosfilm prize.

Alina shared: ‘This is the first and only award for my film so far. And it’s the Mosfilm special prize at the Saint Anna Festival! I was absolutely thrilled to receive it! This is an important stage in the film’s life.’

The shortlist and the special screening programme of ‘Saint Anna’ also featured the following animated works by students and graduates from HSE Art and Design School: ROCK&FROG (dir. Ekaterina Sterkhova, Elina Sibgatullina, Polina Andreeva), So Deep So Blue (dir. Zhanna Fomina, Nina Filippova), ‘The Devil of Order’ (dir. Elina Sibgatullina), ‘The Tooth of Cowardice’ (dir. Ekaterina Sterkhova), ‘Theft’ (dir. Vlada Simakova, Yulia Badretdinova).

We congratulate the winners and participants of Saint Anna and wish them many more victories! And for those who still only dream of becoming a part of the film industry and making their own prize-winning films, we recommend enrolling in the ‘Screen Arts’ track at HSE Art and Design School.