NEWS
Microdrama Pitch Winners Announced at the Short Film Days Festival
Photo: Press service of the Short Film Days Festival
December 16, 2025, Moscow
On December 14, the educational programme of the international Short Film Days Festival 2025 held a microdrama pitching session. The festival offered a pitch of this format for the first time in Russia. The session was organised by MovieStart Production Centre and Lime HD. Eleven shortlisted projects were presented on the Gorky Hall stage.
The ceremony of awarding the pitch winners took place during the opening of the Short Film Days Festival. The jury of experts voted for the following winners:
1st place:Mating Game, written by Natalia Volkova, directed by Ivan Ponkratov, produced by Valeria Yaskula (Moscow).
Logline: The ideal wife finds herself without a husband on the eve of the “Wife of the Year” contest. To keep up a façade, she hires a gardener to play the role of her spouse. Her friends living nearby help her with the rest. However, victory turns into chaos, exposure and betrayal.
2nd place:Bride’s Delivery Included, written by Elena Arbuzova (Moscow)
Logline: Their marriage had been a smoke show until it became reality. Now they are to choose between the duty and feelings, the truth and deception.
3rd place:Between the Boss, Husband and His Mistress, written by Daria Revyakina (St. Petersburg)
Logline: A modest housewife, abandoned by her husband, responds to the spell of her authoritarian boss, thus triggering jealousy in her ex. The mistresses of both men take cruel revenge on her. However, her secret passion for writing helps her gain independence and make the right choice.
The ceremony of awarding the pitch winners took place during the opening of the Short Film Days Festival. The jury of experts voted for the following winners:
1st place:Mating Game, written by Natalia Volkova, directed by Ivan Ponkratov, produced by Valeria Yaskula (Moscow).
Logline: The ideal wife finds herself without a husband on the eve of the “Wife of the Year” contest. To keep up a façade, she hires a gardener to play the role of her spouse. Her friends living nearby help her with the rest. However, victory turns into chaos, exposure and betrayal.
2nd place:Bride’s Delivery Included, written by Elena Arbuzova (Moscow)
Logline: Their marriage had been a smoke show until it became reality. Now they are to choose between the duty and feelings, the truth and deception.
3rd place:Between the Boss, Husband and His Mistress, written by Daria Revyakina (St. Petersburg)
Logline: A modest housewife, abandoned by her husband, responds to the spell of her authoritarian boss, thus triggering jealousy in her ex. The mistresses of both men take cruel revenge on her. However, her secret passion for writing helps her gain independence and make the right choice.
Photo: Press service of the Short Film Days Festival
Microdrama pitch projects were assessed by leading experts in filmmaking and microdrama? producers and distributors. The jury included
The microdrama pitching session was moderated by Dmitry Yakunin, General Director of the MovieStart Production Centre.
Vladimir Sivov, founder of Lime HDI and the KinoLenta platform:
- Sofia Avanesyan, Wibes Special Projects manager
- Susanna Alperina, film reviewer, producer, program director of the Original+ and Original+Doc streaming services festival
- Oksana Barkovskaya, CEO, Format-TV Group of Companies
- Konstantin Vladimirov, CCO, Media Telecom
- DanilkinEvgeny, chief director, Lime HD
- Yevgeny Kulik, actor, producer, director
- Natalia Klibanova, chief producer, Amedia Production
- Katerina Pshenitsyna, expert in international content distribution and co-production
- Karina Mia Satlykova, CEO, Kunay Film (Turkey), producer
- Vladimir Sivov, CEO, KinoLenta platform
- Anton Smirnov, CEO, Gamma Production
- Ivan Snezhkin, managing editor, Institute for Internet Development (ANO IID)
- Wenwen Han,CEO, Short Drama Alliance
- Alexander Shebanov, blogger, screenwriter, VK creative producer
- Cassandra Yang, CEO, RisingJoy, a leading microdrama distributor
The microdrama pitching session was moderated by Dmitry Yakunin, General Director of the MovieStart Production Centre.
Vladimir Sivov, founder of Lime HDI and the KinoLenta platform:
“
It’s great that the genre of microdrama, which is completely new to Russia, is attracting such attention. We believe at Lime HD that this format can become one of the 2026 trends in the Russian Federation and are ready to help screenwriters, producers and production teams create excellent projects of satisfy market demand in this format!
Ivan Snezhkin, managing editor, Institute for Internet Development:
“
The format is new. It was quite difficult to assess the projects as our approach at IID is different. We strongly believe that any work should have social impact, but today we have not seen such works. The impression is that the authors of microdramas live in a different reality.
Katerina Pshenitsyna, expert in international content distribution and co-production
“
The microdrama format for the Russian market is quite unusual and is likely to undergo changes when stepping into it, because we notice such changes even at this pitching session. However, do not forget about the benchmarks of the microdrama format: there should be dopamine hooks.
Susanna Alperina, film reviewer, producer, program director of the Original+ and Original+Doc streaming service festival
“
This is not the first pitch where I participate. It is very important that the first microdrama pitching session is taking place now as it has given impetus for the development of a whole direction! As a journalist, I find it very interesting to grasp this trend.
VKontakte page of the festival: https://vk.com/shortfilmdays
Telegram channel of the festival: https://t.me/shortfilmdays
Telegram channel of the festival: https://t.me/shortfilmdays