By Maria Bregman
I walked out into the London night on Monday holding a trophy I did not expect to win. The 10th Romford Film Festival and the 9th ECG Eurasian Film Festival held a joint award ceremony. My documentary, Lidiya Grigorieva. I Choose to Live, received the Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.
The event took place at Lumiere Romford inside the Mercury Shopping Centre. The non-profit Romford Film Trust reopened the venue in 2025 after the Premiere Cinemas closed. Over four days they ran more than 150 features and shorts across three screens. They screened world premieres of director’s cuts alongside student debuts and projects by local Havering filmmakers. On Monday night the auditorium was completely full and people were laughing.
The Mayor of Romford sat in the crowd near directors and actors who flew in for the event. The hosts told jokes between the award announcements. Natalie Bays is the festival’s co-founder and earlier in the week she launched a book about their film-inspired cocktails. She spent time talking with the audience.
Creators who could not fly to the UK joined by video link on the large screens. People called in from Almaty, Tashkent, Bishkek, Tbilisi, New York, and Berlin. The ECG Eurasian Film Festival is run by president Marat Akhmedjanov, project manager Vitalina Golovah, and director Alexandra Rey. The festival started in 2018 to introduce cinema from Central Asia and the Caucasus to English-speaking audiences.
I watched other filmmakers collect their awards from the Romford jury throughout the night. Rachel Warren won Best Actress.
Reece Henderson took Best Actor. A film called Stargazers received awards for both Best Score and Best Cinematography. The jury gave Best Documentary to Waking Slowly.
Most of my professional life involves covering these events as a journalist. I covered the CC Forum London 2026 and tracked the publishing industry at the London Book Fair. I filed a piece from the opening night of the BFI London Film Festival. Standing on a stage to receive an award is a different experience entirely.
Thank you to Marat Akhmedjanov and the organising team. Our film is a 49-minute documentary about Lidiya Grigorieva. We made it for her 80th birthday. She is a Ukrainian-born poet living in London who has worked with the BBC World Service and the British Library. She also works as a photo-artist. The documentary covers her practice in both fields.
This is my debut as a documentary filmmaker. The UK theatrical screening took place at the Piccadilly Vue Cinema on 21 November 2025. SIFFA UK gave the film the Best Newcomer award in the Documentary category.
A film team is required for a documentary. Lidiya Grigorieva is the subject of the film and we are grateful to her. I co-wrote the script with Yulia Tulegenova. Dmitry Del handled the cinematography and Ivan Krutov edited the footage. Anna Zhila and Yan Bregman wrote the musical score. Katerina Karp and Nikolai Zyuzin managed the visual design. Other crew members included Nikon Zhila, German Vlasov, Fedor Stepanov, Dmitry Lazarev, Mikhail Balaban, and Nicanor Abelardo.
We spent the evening celebrating with the audience and directors from multiple time zones. I heard my film’s title read aloud and went up to receive the award.
Maria Bregman is a culture journalist and documentary filmmaker based in London. Her debut film, Lidiya Grigorieva. I Choose to Live, received the Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the joint 10th Romford Film Festival and 9th ECG Eurasian Film Festival ceremony in May 2026.
Related reading on Creativitys: Opening Night at the BFI London Film Festival London Book Fair 2025: A Writer’s Journey What CC Forum London 2026 Revealed About the Future of Impact Capital
Sources: Romford Film Festival official site Romford Film Festival 2026 (Romford Recorder) The Fantastic Romford Film Festival Is Back (Havering Daily) ECG Eurasian Film Festival official ECG Film Festival – Eurasian Creative Guild Lydia Grigorieva. I Choose to Live (IMDb) Maria Bregman (Wikipedia) Lydia Grigorieva (Wikipedia)
