ASTANA – “Road to Mother” directed by Akan Satayev won the Best Feature Film award at the June 16-18 fifth New York Eurasian Film Festival. The competition brought together 33 films from 18 countries.
Photo credit: dorogakmateri.kz
“I am pleased to announce that our film “Road to Mother” was named best feature film at New York Eurasian Film Festival,” Satayev wrote on his personal Instagram page.
The film’s general producer Aliya Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, also received Eurasian Women in Cinema award and Altynai Nogerbek playing one of leading female roles won Best Actress award.
The New York Eurasian Film Festival seeks to promote and strengthen cultural cooperation and interaction between the U.S. and the region. Every year it brings short films, feature films and documentaries from Eurasia to New York.
“Road to Mother” premiered in non-competitive section of the Moscow International Film Festival in June 2016 with Kazakhstan’s premiere taking place in Almaty in September.
The picture tells the story of a mother’s unconditional love and its power that helped young man Ilyas to withstand numerous life challenges far from home. The film captures one of the most difficult and tragic periods in Kazakhstan’s history – collectivisation, famine, World War II and post war years, which took the lives of millions of young people and destroyed the lives of many more.
The film’s plot is based on the story that Satayev once heard from his parents, theatre actors who toured across the country in 1980s.
Filming started in 2015 and took place in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan.
“Road to Mother” has already received several international and national awards. It won the grand prize at the Eurasian Bridge Film Festival in Yalta and Tulpar prize from the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts at the Almaty International Film Festival. It received critical acclaim at the Moscow International Film Festival.
Akan Satayev is a prominent Kazakh director. He directed several successful films. Among them are the historical film “Zhauzhurek Myn Bala” (“Thousand Young Warriors”) and one of the highest-grossing films in the history of the Kazakh cinema “Reketir” (“Racketeer”).
