ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s actor Bakhyt Khajibayev won the best actor award at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Film Festival on July 6 in the Chinese city of Chongqing. He was recognized for a leading role in “Operation Nabat,” a drama inspired by actual events.
Bakhyt Khajibayev. Photo credit: Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Information.
Khajibayev expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work on the film and credited the award to the entire team behind the project, reports the Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Information.
Directed by Rashid Suleimenov, “Operation Nabat” tells the story of a hostage crisis involving a passenger bus with 30 people on board in February 1992. Owing to the professionalism of Kazakhstan’s security forces, the operation concluded without any casualties.
Kazakhstan was represented in the main competition section, named Golden Camellia, by two films: “Operation Nabat” and “Brothers,” a drama directed by Darkhan Tulegenov.
“Brothers,” which has won more than 15 international awards, including the Spirit of Cinema Award at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany, was also featured in the festival’s special program, as Kazakhstan held focus-section status this year.
The Golden Camellia competition featured 20 full-length films, with two entries from each SCO member country. The winners were selected by an international jury composed of nine renowned filmmakers from SCO states.
