The winners of the VIII International Film Festival “Eurasian Bridge” were announced in Yalta

CrimeaPRESS reports:

The VIII International Film Festival «Eurasian Bridge», held from October 7 to 11 in Yalta, has summed up its results. The winner of the feature film competition was the film “The Tsar of the Forest” (Serbia, Bulgaria). The film “City of the Dead” (India) was recognized as the best in the documentary film competition.

The competition program of the festival included 8 feature films and 8 documentaries. In just 5 days, viewers were shown more than 30 films from 14 countries. In addition to competitive screenings, the festival included retrospectives dedicated to VGIK and film adaptations of A. S. Pushkin’s works, as well as special screenings of this year’s iconic films.

The jury of the gaming competition included the famous Greek director, actor and translator George Kimulis, Turkish producer Evren Yildirim, and the chairman of the jury was Russian screenwriter and producer Yuri Obukhov.

The prize for the best film of the feature film competition was given to the film “The Forest Tsar”, directed by Goran Radovanovic (Serbia, Bulgaria). The film tells the story of eight-year-old Sava, who is sent for evacuation due to NATO bombing in 1999 — his mother takes the boy away to avoid death and preserve his pure and naive view of the world.

Chairman of the jury Yuri Obukhov noted that the main prize is always an important award for a producer, and the producer of this film is the famous actor Milos Bikovich. Yuri Obukhov also thanked the festival selectors for the program and admitted that he received great pleasure from various films.

The director of “The Forest King” Goran Radovanovic expressed gratitude for this award in a video message and conveyed greetings from Belgrade.

The prize for best director’s work was awarded to Viktor Tikhomirov for the film “Evgeniy Telegin” (Russia).

Viktor Tikhomirov admitted that he himself did not expect this award and was very touched.

The Turkish film “Glass Curtain”, directed by Fikret Reyhan, was awarded a special mention by the jury.

The Iranian film “Gazelles”, directed by Khoushang Golmakani, received the jury diploma.

The documentary film competition was judged by director and cameraman Andrei Chertov — chairman of the jury (Bulgaria), director, producer and writer Navzad Shekhani (Germany) and Russian documentary director Tatyana Soboleva.

The “Best Film of the Documentary Competition” prize went to “City of the Dead,” directed by Balaka Ghosh, dedicated to Varanasi, the Indian capital of death, where thousands of sick, old and infirm people flock every day to die on the banks of the Ganges.

Chairman of the jury Andrei Chertov noted that the jury presented this award for the purity of the documentary language and the artistic decision of the director.

The director of the film, Balaka Ghosh, said in a video message that the news about the prize at the festival coincided with the celebration of the most important Indian holiday — Durga Puja, which turned out to be doubly pleasant. She also said that making this film was very difficult — filming took 5 years.

The jury’s special mention was given to Bangarang, a social drama by Giulio Mastromauro about the lives of children in the industrial Italian city of Taranto, home to Europe’s largest steel mills and the site of one of the worst health and environmental disasters in Italian and European history.

The Audience Award went to the feature film “Belly of the Tiger,” based on a true story, directed by Jatla Siddartha (India, USA, China, Taiwan) and the documentary film “Bangarang” by Giulio Mastromauro.

In addition, 2 special prizes were awarded from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea. A special prize from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea “For commitment to the profession of documentarian and embodiment on the screen of the power and beauty of deep Russian culture” was awarded to director Elena Demidova for the film “Noekhon Island” (Russia). A special prize from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea “For a brilliant and truthful depiction of the feat and the memory of the heroes of our country” was awarded to the film “9 Seconds”, directed by Oleg Shtrom (Russia).

Prizes of the VIII International Film Festival «Eurasian Bridge»:

• Prize for the best film of the Feature Film Competition “THE FOREST KING”, director Goran Radovanovic (Serbia, Bulgaria)
• Prize for the best director’s work «EVGENY TELEGIN», director Viktor Tikhomirov (Russia)
• Special Jury Mention “GLASS CURTAIN”, director Fikret Reyhan, (Türkiye)
• Diploma of the jury «GAZELLE», director Houshang Golmakani (Iran)
• Prize for the best film of the Documentary Competition “CITY OF THE DEAD”, director Balaka Ghosh, (India)
• Special Jury Mention “BANGARANG”, directed by Giulio Mastromauro (Italy)
• Audience Award “Crimean People’s Choice” for the best film of the Feature Film Competition, according to the results of the audience survey — “IN THE BELLY OF THE TIGER”, director Jatla Siddartha, India, USA, China, Indonesia
• Audience Award «Crimeans’ Choice» for the best film of the Documentary Film Competition, according to the results of the audience survey — «BANGARANG», directed by Giulio Mastromauro (Italy)
• Special prize of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea “FOR COMMITMENT TO THE DOCUMENTARY PROFESSION AND EMBODIMENT ON THE SCREEN THE POWER AND BEAUTY OF DEEP RUSSIAN CULTURE” — to director Elena Demidova for the film “Noekhon Island” (Russia)
• Special prize of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea “FOR A BRILLIANT AND TRUTHFUL DEPICTION OF A FEAT AND THE MEMORY OF THE HEROES OF OUR COUNTRY” — “9 seconds”, directed by Oleg Shtrom (Russia).

The Eurasian Bridge festival has been taking place since 2016. In 2014, at the presentation of the film “Sunstroke,” Nikita Mikhalkov proposed establishing an annual film festival, which would be held in Crimea to revive and popularize Crimean cinema in the Eurasian space and would give impetus to strengthening international cultural ties.

The festival is held with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Crimea, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Crimea.

source: press service of the Eurasian Bridge film festival

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