GRAND PRIX GOES TO RUSSIAN FILM “AUGUST”

MOSCOW, NOVEMBER 12 /SRNA/ – The Grand Prix of the prestigious Diamond Butterfly film award went tonight to the Russian film August, directed by Nikita Vysotsky and Ilya Lebedev.

The film won in the Best Picture category and received a statuette and a Yakutian diamond valued at USD 1 million.

Winners in the other categories received awards worth USD 250,000, Russian media reported.

Slađana Zrnić won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the historical spy thriller The Hand of Justice, which received co-financing through a minority co-production arrangement from the Audio-Visual Centre of Republika Srpska.

Among other winners, Roman Naumovich received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Belarusian film Turning Point. The Iranian film The Daughter of Ldy Fairy, directed by Alireza Motamedi, was selected as Best Screenplay, while the Kazakh film Evacuation, directed by Aleksandr Plotnikov, won the award for Best Cinematography.

The initiator of the film award is Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov. Asked by reporters tonight whether money spoils actors, in reference to the substantial monetary value of the Diamond Butterfly award, he said that money does not spoil a human, but rather the lack of humanity does.

This prestigious international film award is presented by the Eurasian Academy of Cinematographic Arts, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian Cultural Foundation. It is often referred to as the Eurasian “Oscar”.

The second award ceremony was held at Nikita Mikhalkov's “12” studio in Moscow.

A total of 41 films from 19 countries across Europe, South America, Asia and Africa competed for the award.