ASTANA – The 17th Eurasia International Film Festival ended on Nov. 30 in Almaty with an award ceremony honoring the best actors, directors and films.
Photo credit: Alexander Pavsky/Kazinform
This year, the festival brought together filmmakers from more than 15 countries, presenting two competition programs: an international competition and a competition of Central Asian and Turkic countries. The jury decided to award the main prize to two films at once, reported Kazinform on Nov. 30.
The Grand Prix of the Central Asian and Turkic countries competition was awarded to the “Where the White Cranes Dance” film directed by Mikhail Lukachevsky from the Sakha Republic, Russia.
The second winner of the Grand Prix was the Polish film titled “Next to Nothing” directed by Grzegorz Debowski.
“I am very surprised and at the same time glad that our work was recognized as the best. It is difficult for me to find words to describe my emotions now. I know that there were many good and interesting films at the festival, talented directors, and for us it is a great honor. We worked on this film for a short time, making changes to the script at the last minute, and shot it in just 17 days. This is a low-budget film, and we used documentary filmmaking techniques, filming with actors in real locations where these people live. I think it was this approach that brought something special to the film,” said Debowski.
The winners were also announced in the Best Actress Prize, the Best Actor Prize, the Special Jury Prize and the Best Director Prize nominations in both competition programs.
Acting President of Kazakhfilm studio and Director of the 17th Eurasia International Film Festival Aidar Omarov, in his speech, expressed gratitude to all jury members for the work done and for inspiring the participants to new achievements.
