II (Two) by Ulada Siankova was chosen as the best feature fiction film. Lake of Happiness by Aliaksei Paluyan was recognized as the best feature short fiction. The best feature documentary was Pure Art by Maksim Shved, and the best documentary short was Dad by Maryia Yakimovich. The jury also voted for Ivan Hapienka's Kingdom of Stars as the best animated film.
Maksim Shved was picked as the best director, while Mykola Bandarenko was the best actor with his role in Sasha Stelchenko's film Deserter, and Anastasiya Plyats was chosen as the best actress with her role in Lake of Happiness. The award for the best cinematography went to Artsiom Lobach (Way Home), for the best script – to Lyubou Ziamtsova (The Place of Love), and Minsk Municipal Engineering Department were responsible for the best production design – in Pure Art. The work of Uladzimir Sivitski and Ivan Kirchuk for Ancestral Code by Volodymyr Lutskyi was recognized as the best film music. Director Maryia Yakimovich was named the discovery of the year.
The jury of the first Red Heather award included the organizers of the award, Daria Amialkovich, Maksim Karpitski, Irena Katsialovich and Taras Tarnalitski, as well as other journalists, film critics, film experts, film bloggers and film researchers: Ulyana Budzik, Iryna Dziamianava, Maksim Zhbankou, Anton Kalyaga, Yuri Kastuzik, Lina Miadzviedzieva, Ihar Sukmanau, Volha Ramanava, Andrey Rasinski, Halina Shur. Some members of the jury chose to remain anonymous.
The first Red Heather ran from autumn 2021 to spring 2022 and covered the films made in 2019 and 2020, a period chosen to support films that have not received the attention they deserve in local cinemas due to the coronavirus epidemic as well as the political crisis in the country. 88 films by Belarusian filmmakers working both in the country and abroad were submitted for the award.
