The Awards ceremony took place on Saturday 1st December in the stunning art deco ballroom of the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly in London’s Mayfair.
The Awards ceremony took place on Saturday 1st December in the stunning art deco ballroom of the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly in London’s Mayfair.
The Golden Unicorn Awards is an annual event reflecting the cross-cultural mission of the Russian Film Week Festival; building a bridge between the English-speaking world and the Russian people. The unique unicorn statuettes made of Bohemian crystal glass, containing 24 carat gold leaf, were given to the winners in nine nominations.
Filip Perkon, Founder and General Producer of the Golden Unicorn Awards, said: ‘The Golden Unicorn Awards have now become an important annual event in the Russian and European film industry calendar. In current turbulent times, such cross cultural projects are particularly important, as they provide a cultural bridge between creative people allowing them to keep making great content and celebrating their work internationally. We are happy to welcome a full house of 270 film directors, actors, writers, casting directors and patrons at our ceremony, and also support the work of Natalia Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation along the way. I congratulate all the nominees and winners’.
British actor Brian Cox, the President of International Jury of the Golden Unicorn Awards, mentioned the level of excellence of the nominees. ‘This year, it is a particular honor to support Russian Film Week and the Golden Unicorn Awards. Given the political situation, rather than 'jump ship', it is important to maintain and strengthen our cultural links. The films I’ve seen over the last week have been stupendous, on an extraordinary high level, a level I haven’t seen in a long time. Deciding the nominees was very hard’, he said.
Awards Ceremony brought together leading businesspeople, celebrities and film industry elite, including Rupert Everett, Natalia Vodianova, Olga Kurylenko, Len Blavatnik, Brian Cox, Princess Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, Harry Blain, Alexey Serebriakov, Danila Kozlovsky, Maria Kozhevnikova, Irina Gorbacheva, Aleksey Uchitel, Marina Zudina, Alexandra Tolstoy, Joe Alvarez, Viktoriya Yakubovskaya and other famous guests.
The event started with a gala dinner and a charity auction in aid of Naked Heart Foundation, established by Natalia Vodianova. The evening was hosted by famous Russian writer Alexander Tsypkin and the auction led by Christie's excellent Sarah Reynolds. During the evening £160,000 were raised for Naked Heart programmes helping families of children with special needs.
Natalia Vodianova, model, philanthropist, founder of the Naked Heart Foundation said: ‘It's incredibly heartening to see such a wealthy array of Russian culture that the Russian Film Week brings to London, and we at the Naked Heart Foundation are proud and honoured to be the chosen charity partner of the Golden Unicorn Awards. It's fantastic to see this collaboration between film and charity, which enables us to continue our work in helping children with special needs and their families in my home country’.
Exclusive entertainment was provided by The Penelopes, the Cannes Film Festival band, Russian rock and blues musician Eugeny Margulis and Ken Hensley (ex-Uriah Heep).
The winners of the Golden Unicorn Awards 2018
Best Film
How Viktor “The Garlic” Took Alexey “The Stud” to the Nursing Home. Director - Alexander Hant
Best Screenplay
How Viktor “The Garlic” Took Alexey “The Stud” to the Nursing Home
Best Actor
Evgeny Tkachuk (How Viktor “The Garlic” Took Alexey “The Stud” to the Nursing Home)
Best Actress
Irina Starshenbaum (Summer)
Best Emerging Talent
Timothy Zhalin, Director (Coupled)
Best Documentary
INTO Nation of the Great Odessa
Best Short Film
The sign
Best Foreign Film with a Russian connection:
Sergio & Sergei
Best Foreign Documentary Film
A Sniper’s War
Aleksey Uchitel and Helen Bubnova
Photo : Joe Alvarez, Max Bubnov.
