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Congratulations to Anna, Eva, Vlad, and Platon, all aged 16-17, from Bradford-on-Avon, England, whose film Lost Youth has won Best Story (sponsored by Amazon MGM Studios) at the Into Film Awards 2026.
Driven principally by Anna, who is a Ukrainian refugee, Lost Youth honours the memory of Anastasia Porokhnya, a 17-year-old girl who was killed by Russian cluster munitions in her backyard in 2022. Through the film, Anna channels her own journey and gives voice to the pain, resilience and loss that young people like her carry. With an ambitious and striking extended conversation filmed in one shot as the centrepiece, this film is a testimony to what many refugees have lived through and a tribute to those lost along the way.
Having been inspired by hearing Anastasia's story on social media, Anna wrote the script and brought her friends Eva and Vlad in to be the film's actors, and another friend, Platon, to help with the camera.
"I am still trying to find the words for what this means to me", said Anna. "To have that story recognised feels like something beyond me. It feels like the film did what I so desperately needed it to do; to make people stop, the way I once stopped, and truly see. If this film can remind even one person that young voices deserve to be amplified, that art can hold what words alone cannot, then every difficult moment of making it was worth it."
"This is for her, the girl whose story I found, and for every story still waiting to be told."
If this film can remind even one person that young voices deserve to be amplified, that art can hold what words alone cannot, then every difficult moment of making it was worth it.
Anna, aged 17, filmmaker of 'Lost Youth'
Anna's film affected all of the judges who watched it, and the naturalistic approach to the script and performances, as well as the long extended take that serves as the film's core, all serve to heighten the impact of its hard-hitting subject matter. The story was already resonant - increasingly so, as refugees across the UK continue to find themselves a target for abuse and violence - and the chosen presentation brings a realism to the film that is hard to ignore.
"This topic is personal to me because it changed my whole life", explained Anna. "When your home is being destroyed, when you are losing people you know and love, there is this overwhelming feeling of being completely alone with it, and a fear of speaking about it that is almost impossible to describe.
For a long time I stayed silent. I ran from those feelings rather than facing them. And this wasn't just personal to me: every single person in my team carried their own version of this story. We had all come here as strangers, to each other and to this country, all finding safety somewhere far from home. That shared understanding of what it means to be displaced, to be rebuilding, to be carrying something heavy in silence, is what held us together through the making of this film.
This film forced us to stop running. It made me face everything I had been avoiding and accept it for what it was. And that shift, from silence to speaking, is something I want every young person watching this film to feel is possible for them too.
Your actions matter, even when you are convinced they don't. I could have scrolled past her memorial page. I could have stayed silent. But I didn't, and everything changed because of that one moment. I hope this film reminds people that the smallest decision to stop, to look, to care about someone you have never met, can mean more than you will ever fully know."
