Director Anton Nefedov won the main prize at the 34th Window to Europe Russian Film Festival in Vyborg for his feature drama set in 1994 Grozny, titled The Garden Behind Our House.
The closing ceremony took place at the historic Vyborg Castle in northwestern Russia. For the first time in the festival history, two film directors co-hosted the event: festival president Sergey Ursulyak and filmmaker Darya Lebedeva, whose debut feature Driving You Crazy screened out of competition on the big screen after gaining audience acclaim.
The Garden Behind Our House stars Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Savely Kudryashov, and Maria Ignatova. Nefedov co-wrote the screenplay with Alexander Rodionov, focusing on the people of Grozny during the outbreak of the First Chechen War in 1994.
The festival jury honored the picture for its artistic qualities, including clear storytelling, precise dialogue, and period authenticity. The decision created a notable precedent after the film was selected for the 2024 competition but withdrawn prior to screening because it lacked a distribution license. After securing the required documentation, the filmmakers re-entered the competition and secured the victory.
Film distributors attending the festival reported strong interest in the movie despite modest commercial box office expectations. In addition to the grand prize, the production team received a 500,000 ruble cash award from the Russian Producers Guild, presented by guild president Renat Davletyarov.
Jury chairman Pavel Lungin praised the film, saying it deeply touched all panel members. Lungin described the project as both a fresh debut and a classic work of Russian cinema, noting stylistic echoes of director Aleksei German and pre-war filmmaking alongside a standout performance by Mikhalkova.
Accepting the award on stage, Nefedov dedicated the victory to his mother, stating that the film was inspired by her life.
Special Jury Awards and Recognition
The festival jury awarded several special honors across the feature film competition. Director Sergey Osipyan won the special jury prize for poetic literary adaptation for his screen version of Yuri Koval's prose work The Lightest Boat in the World. Vladimir Zakharenko earned the bright debut prize for On the Edge of Childhood, while Nikita Miklyushov received a diploma for courage for his candid romance Times of Love, which explored intimate youth relationships.
Director Vitaly Suslin received the festival president's prize for directing and the best screenplay award for Landscaping. The film stars Sergey Stepanchenko as Pyotr, a city worker who collects trash and manages municipal fountains while facing a lack of understanding from younger generations and his own son. Critics noted thematic parallels to Wim Wenders' 2023 movie Perfect Days.
Documentary and Animation Winners
In the documentary competition, Olesya Yepishina took top honors for her short film Big Friend, which follows a charitable foundation, one of its young wards, and his two mentors. Kirill Verkhozin received the Savva Kulish Prize for his documentary Fairy Tale, while Anna Lyubimtseva won the animation category with her film Friction Force.
Vyborg Score Audience Choice Awards
Festival attendees selected Yulia Trofimova's comedy drama How to Survive Marriage as the winner of the Vyborg Score audience competition, where feature entries compete against award winners from other national festivals. Starring Marianna Shults, Yevgeniya Gromova, and Aleksandr Yatsenko, the story follows an actress mother who visits her daughter unannounced and uncovers marital infidelity.
The audience favorite, which also picked up two special prizes ahead of its theatrical release, drew comparisons to the classic Soviet film Due to Family Circumstances, with Shults earning praise for a role reminiscent of actress Galina Polskikh.
Second place in the audience voting went to Space is Falling Asleep by director Anton Mamykin, starring Mark Eydelshteyn and Darya Ekamasova. Third place went to Hamlet Dulyan's Forest, featuring Karina Razumovskaya, Lyanka Gryu, and Nikita Kologrivyy. Separately, the film Dark Thoughts won the Five Stars film critics prize and a special award from the Russian Guild of Film Critics, accompanied by a 500,000 ruble cash grant.
