Jurors of 7th International Catholic Festival of Christian Films and TV Programs “Magnificat’ 2011” awarded two movies produced by Belsat TV. Volkha Dashuk received a prize for the best director for her movie “Three kilometers from heaven”. A film “Children of Father Shaplevich”, directed by Zoya Katovich and Alena Antanishyan received a special prize founded by the director of Polish Institute of National Memory for “showing true face of priesthood in Belarusian cinema”.
Magnificat 2011 film festival was held in Glebokie and in Minsk between September 6th and 10th. 39 movies from 13 countries were screened at the festival. The grand-prix award went to a Polish-American co-production “Labyrinth”. Magnificat in organized by a catholic association “Signis Belarus”, studio “Stop-Kadr” and Vitebsk diocese.
About the movies:
“Three kilometers from heaven”: Andrey, a Belarusian, after a serious accident, which partially paralyzed him, changes his life. He does not give up. Instead, he takes interest in Belarusian language and history. He creates Internet websites, writes poems, publishes two books. He falls in love and has new, ambitious dreams.
“Children of Father Shaplevich” is a history of a man who fought with soviet system using his words and good deeds. The priest Stanislav Shaplevich, came from a small village near Baranoviche. After the World War II he was forced to hide, but even being underground he did not stop serving God and his followers. He was betrayed and his hideaway was revealed. Arrested by the NKVD, Shaplevich was sent to Gulag. From his return to Belarus until his death in 1975, people got to know him as a man of a great spirit and unshaken morals. Unique archival materials were used in the movie. Father Shaplevich was played by a Belarusian human rights activists Alekh Volchak. The movie is available on-line at Belsat website.
