Ceremony “Tefi Kids”: the jury had a craving for something sweet

Awards for the best children’s and family television projects were presented in Moscow

The fifth Tefi Kids ceremony was held in Moscow, where awards were presented for the most outstanding television and film projects for children and family formats. Among the winners in ten categories were both hits that thundered throughout the country, as well as projects that were less noticeable, but certainly attractive.

Over the past five years, the jury’s workload has increased significantly. As the president of the award, Alexander Mitroshenkov, noted, if the first children’s “Tefi” received about a hundred applications, now this number has doubled. There is nothing surprising in such an abundance of children’s projects. There are already more than a dozen specialized channels for children, and specialized programs, films and TV series have become of interest to a variety of producers.

This year’s ceremony was a triumph for the creators of the series “Aunt Martha.” The comedy about a precociously smart girl and her unlucky adult relative became a TV hit of the season, and after the jury’s vote, “Tefi Kids” won in the “Best Series for Children and Family Viewing” categories, and also brought an award to Evgeny Shemyakin in the director’s category.

The award’s academicians also showed very active sympathy for programs where sweets appear in one way or another. Show “Confectioner. Children” won in the category “Best Program for Children”, although it can be assumed that the audience of sweets specialist and TV presenter Renat Agzamov is much wider. In the “Sweeties Show” project, desserts are not prepared, but the teletrio of Cupcake, Pretzel and Marshmallow, inventing games and distributing sweets, impressed not only the kids, but also those who can appreciate the visual side of the show. As a result, the program received a prize in the design category.

Another trend of the ceremony was nostalgia. The song from the program “Good Night, Kids!”, familiar to many generations, won in the music category. “Tired Toys Sleep” was written in 1965 by composer Arkady Ostrovsky based on poems by Zoya Petrova. Since then, this song has been as recognizable as the characters of the legendary TV show. The prize was received by the son of Arkady Ostrovsky, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Ostrovsky, who recalled that next year all fans of the composer’s talent will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of Arkady Ilyich.

Tina Kandelaki’s victory in the “Children’s Program Presenter” category was no less nostalgic. The show “Smarter than Everyone,” in which Tina recalled working on camera, received restrained responses, but this does not mean that the TV presenter lost her former dexterity during her work as a producer.

Several nominations of the ceremony are traditionally dedicated to animation. In a situation where there are clearly fewer big Hollywood releases on the Russian market, local producers seem to have received great opportunities. It is still difficult to say that since the time of “Masha and the Bear” we have had equally significant breakthroughs. Nevertheless, studios work, projects go on air and on the Internet, and in any case, those for whom they were invented will judge them.

The adult jury, having evaluated all the applications, noted “Three Cats and a Sea of ​​Adventures” as the best animated film, “Lev’s Truck” as the best series and named “Mult” the best TV channel for children at the end of the year. Judging by the applause of the target audience, which was also present at the Et Cetera theater, such a choice was not without common sense.

The interests of the award traditionally extend beyond the capital’s ring road, so there are always many regional projects in the competition. This year, the best daily information and entertainment program for children was found in the regions. The prize in this category was given to the creators of the program “Sengeldek” (“Cradle”), broadcast on the Ufa channel “Tamyr,” by the editor-in-chief of “MK” Pavel Gusev, who became one of the presenters at the ceremony.

There was most likely no doubt in determining the best feature film for children and family viewing. “By the way, I haven’t played this character yet,” noted Sergei Bezrukov, presenting the prize to the creators of the film “Cheburashka.” The creators thanked for the award and promised a continuation of the sensational film.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29143 dated October 25, 2023

Newspaper headline:
…And “yummy treats for dessert”