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Qiao Liang’s drama wins top prize at Moscow fest.

Chinese director Qiao Liang’s Crested Ibis has been named the winner of the Golden George Prize for best film at the 39th Moscow International Film Festival (June 22-29).

The award was handed out at a gala ceremony in the Russian capital’s Rossiya Cinema on Thursday evening (June 29).

Having its world premiere in Moscow, the drama, which follows a Beijing journalist who goes back to his hometown to report on the sighting of a rare bird, also puts a spotlight on the living conditions of rural China and the dilemmas faced by humanity.

The main competition’s international jury was headed by Iranian filmmaker Reza Mirkarimi and also included Italian actress Ornella Muti, German funding consultant Brigitta Manthey and Catalan director Albert Serra.

They also awarded a special jury prize to veteran Russian director Rustam Khamdamov’s The Bottomless Bag, based on Ryunosuke...

Outside a submarine thousands of leagues under the sea lies a dark, cold death. Inside the sub lies a crew on a mission that could salvage their lives…Mining full-speed-ahead tension from a fathoms-deep treasure hunt, Black Sea is a suspenseful adventure thriller directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald.

Robinson (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) is a submarine captain, and the sea calls him at the expense of all else: his nearly 30 years of voyages have cost him the love of his wife Chrissy (Jodie Whittaker) and child. When the salvage company for whom he has toiled over 11 years abruptly lays him off, this working-class ex-Navy man finds himself adrift.

But after hearing the tale of a German U-boat full of WWII-era gold sitting on a bed in the Georgian depths of the Black Sea, the captain feels he can prove himself anew. He jumps at a funding...

Heist movies are universally loved yet rarely reinvented, as they typically assemble a band of misfits who work towards a collective criminal goal involving immense riches. Most of the time you’ll see a bank being robbed, or there’s the Ocean’s gang infiltrating casinos, and we can’t forget when those Fast & Furious boys/gals stole an entire vault – but we haven’t seen that many underwater heist films.

Sure, Black Sea isn’t a straightforward smash-and-grab story, but Kevin Macdonald’s latest film is an unconventional heist movie at its core. There’s a rag-tag team, their treacherous submersible journey, and a buttload of Nazi gold hidden deep inside a sunken German U-Boat – there just happens to be a little more drama involved thanks to the creaky Russian submarine used to navigate Jordanian/Russian waters. Don’t expect a quirky seafaring adventure from this lot of gold-digging sailors,...

Sneak Peek footage from director Kevin Macdonald's 'submarine thriller' "Black Sea", starring Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis and Jodie Whitaker, opening January 23, 2015:

"...a rogue submarine captain pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure of Third Reich gold, rumored to be lost in the depths of the 'Black Sea'.

"As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Black Sea"...

Universal Pictures has released the first clip from Kevin Macdonald's upcoming submarine thriller Black Sea. Jude Law stars as a rogue captain who puts together a misfit crew to recover lost Nazi gold from a sunken U-boat, but the claustrophobia becomes even tighter as the crewmates turn on each other in the hope of gaining a greater share of the treasure. This clip doesn't highlight the interpersonal drama between the crew as much as it explains to the audience how a treasure from the 1940s could still be salvageable. I don't really need to know the science behind preserved Nazi gold, but I don't mind the inclusion. Hit the jump to check out the Black Sea clip. The film opens January 23, 2015, and also stars Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis, and Jodie Whitaker. [complextv contentid="9tcmJycTqiPHXta87IJu9o-FP34JVJrb" sitename="collider" playerid="26aa5f02d93f4c05a4546f6d5ecb59b7" adsetid="67a3ff9d3a842ae818bb9de1badc5b0" width="600" height="360" keywords=""] Here’s the official synopsis for...

The first trailer for the submarine thriller Black Sea has gone online. I love submarine movies, and Kevin Macdonald's Black Sea has been on my (no pun intended) radar since production began over a year ago.  Jude Law stars as a rogue captain who puts together a misfit crew to recover lost Nazi gold from a sunken U-boat, but the claustrophobia becomes even tighter as the crewmates turn on each other in the hope of gaining a greater share of the treasure.  Judging by the trailer, this movie isn't going to upend the genre, but it could be a great addition, especially since the cast includes not only Law, but also Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Michael Smiley. Hit the jump to check out the Black Sea trailer.  The film opens January 23, 2015, and also stars David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis, and Jodie Whitaker. Here's...

Kevin McDonald’s upcoming submarine actioner, Black Sea, has been coasting on the waves for some time now. If you haven’t yet heard of the movie, that’s not unlikely. The film went into production last August, and it’s been a year since we were first granted a still from the movie. Following on from the news in July revealing a release date, Universal Pictures have delivered the first trailer for their underwater adventure thriller.

Black Sea enlists Jude Law as Captain Robinson, who leads a murky treasure hunt. Sent to commandeer a half-British, half-Russian crew tasked with salvaging a lost sunken submarine full of gold, one of Hitler’s u-boats crammed with $582 million in gold, Robinson finds more in store than he bargained for.

There’s plenty to get excited about judging by this first footage. From director Kevin MacDonald (The Last King Of Scotland, How I Live Now...

Speaking at the Odessa Film Festival the producer of Sergey Mokritsky’s war drama Unbroken said that the project had now completed principal photography.

20th Century Fox and Universal are among the Us majors ¨in talks¨ to take on worldwide distribution for Sergey Mokritsky’s € 3.7m biopic/war drama Unbroken.

Speaking at this week’s Works in Progress showcase at the Odessa Film Industry Office, producer Egor Olesov of Kiev-based Kinorob said that the Ukrainian-Russian co-production - which had previously previously gone under the working title of The Battle Of Sevastopol - completed principal photography in Kiev on last Tuesday (July 15).

Expected to be a blockbuster success in Ukraine, the film recounts the story of student Lyudmila Pavilchenko who was a legendary sniper during the Second World War with 309 shots to her credit and later became friends with the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

In an interview with Russia’s Ria-Novosti , producer Natalia Mokritskaya said that the film...

Russian actor Sergey Puskepalis is to make his directorial debut and has cast Alexey Serebryakov, star of Cannes winner Leviathan.

Clinch is billed as a drama with tragicomic elements starring Serebryakov, who headlined Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, winner of best screenplay at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Clinch, which is being produced by Ruben Dishdishyan’s Mars Media Entertainment, also features the actress Asya Domskaya in her first screen role.

Speaking to Ria-Novosti, Puskepalis explained that the film’s story, which he had developed for the past five years, focuses on “the clinch of relations between the ‘next’ generations and people of my age”.

“We are not very good at understanding the kids who are around 20-22 years-old. And there’s an essential difference between us – they are citizens of Russia and we are all still from the Ussr,” he added.

Puskepalis and his co-star Grigory Dobrygin shared a Silver Bear at the 2010 Berlinale for their...

Production has officially started on Kevin MacDonald’s next film Black Sea, details of which can be found below:

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law captains the cast of Black Sea, the suspenseful adventure thriller being directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) and produced by Charles Steel for Cowboy Films. Black Sea, which will be released in 2014, is co-produced and co-financed by Focus and Film4. Focus CEO James Schamus and Focus co-ceo Andrew Karpen made the announcement today…. Black Sea centers on a rogue submarine captain (Mr. Law) who, after being laid off from a salvage company, pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Ben Mendelsohn and Jodie Whittaker join Jude Law on submarine thriller, which has begun production in the UK.

Kevin Macdonald’s Black Sea, starring Jude Law as a salvage submarine captain that goes rogue, has begun shooting in the UK and new cast members have been revealed.

Boarding the project are Bifa winner Michael Smiley, star of Kill List, and David Threlfall, best known for his long-running role in UK drama Shameless. Also joining are Ben Mendelsohn, recently seen opposite Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines, and Jodie Whittaker, star of Attack the Block, Venus and Good Vibrations.

They join a cast that already includes Scoot McNairy (Argo), Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov and Sergey Puskepalis.

The film centres on a rogue submarine captain who - after being laid off from a salvage company - pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost...

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law captains the cast of Black Sea, the suspenseful adventure thriller being directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) and produced by Charles Steel for Cowboy Films. Black Sea, which will be released in 2014, is co-produced and co-financed by Focus and Film4. Focus CEO James Schamus and Focus co-ceo Andrew Karpen made the announcement today.

Focus holds worldwide rights – excluding U.K. free-tv rights, which are held by Film4 – to the movie. Focus executive vice president, international production Teresa Moneo is supervising Black Sea for president of production Jeb Brody. Filming has commenced in the U.K.

Black Sea is being produced by Mr. Macdonald alongside Mr. Steel, who reteam following Mr. Macdonald’s latest film as director, How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay, which will be released this fall. Cowboy Films also produced Mr. Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland,...

An award-winning tale of two meteorologists isolated on a remote Arctic island is a tense allegory about modern Russia

Last Sunday's film of the week, Kelly Reichardt's bleak American independent movie, Meek's Cutoff, centred on nine people losing their way while attempting to cross an arid, inhospitable part of remote Oregon in 1845. This week, in Alexei Popogrebsky's How I Ended This Summer, we have an equally harsh story with a cast of two, set on an Arctic island in Chukotka, at the extreme north-eastern tip of Russia. It is like a gulag designed for two, stuck on the edge of the world and, like Meek's Cutoff, it has a pared down quality that invites, indeed virtually compels, the viewer to see it as some kind of allegory.

The film's title suggests an essay a boy might write after an adventurous holiday in some colourful spot, and indeed one of...

Arthur (12A)

(Jason Winer, 2011, Us) Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner, Luis Guzmán. 110 mins

You can see what they were thinking: "it worked for one difficult-to-market English comic, so let's try it again". But somewhere between the moon and New York City this romcom seems to have lost some of its spirit and spontaneity. There are some snappy lines and funny moments, but Brand's overprivileged wastrel is nowhere near as cuddly as Dudley Moore's was – or as convincingly drunk. Sometimes, hair of the dog isn't the answer.

How I Ended This Summer (12A)

(Aleksei Popogrebsky, 2010, Rus) Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis. 130 mins

Spare and distinctive two-hander set in remote Arctic Russia, where the endless daylight, monotonous work, some terrible news and a touch of radiation exacerbate generational differences to deadly levels.

Pina (U)

(Wim Wenders, 2011, Ger/Fra/UK) 104 mins

A 3D tribute to the work, rather than the life,...

Gripping and superbly acted Russian drama. Set in the Arctic, it was awinner at the Berlin film festival. By Peter Bradshaw

This was the winner of the Silver Bear at last year's Berlin film festival; it is a beautifully shot and superbly acted two-man drama of enormous power and subtlety that had me, for the most part, on the edge of my seat. In the remote Russian Arctic is an isolated meteorological research station. Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) is a middle-aged man and seasoned professional with a Soviet-era sense of duty and sacrifice: powerful, brawny, competent, with a love of fishing for Arctic trout. Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) is a callow twentysomething who is on some kind of temporary college placement. Pavel profoundly irritates Sergei, but the dynamic between them changes utterly when Pavel takes a vitally important radio message for Sergei one day and for one reason or another cannot find...

Reviewed by Amanda Georges

(February 2011)

Directed/Written by: Alexei Popogrebsky

Starring: Sergei Puskepalis and Grigory Dobrygin

Some horror films rely on monsters from other worlds, but others tell the story of the monster within, the one that waits dormant inside a man, nurtured by solitude and awoken by trauma. “How I Ended This Summer” from director Alexei Popogrebsky is one such horror.

This may be a misleading categorization, as there is no gore or gimmicky scare tactics. There are no bloody chainsaws to send shivers up the spine but instead a raw display of the fragility of humans pushed to a limit. Popogrebsky delicately constructs his characters, two men isolated on an Arctic meteorological station in northern Russia, so that they and their demons resonate with viewers. In many ways, the ability to connect to their vulnerability is far more horrifying than any extraterrestrial villain.

Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) is a...

Reviewed by Amanda Georges

(February 2011)

Directed/Written by: Alexei Popogrebsky

Starring: Sergei Puskepalis and Grigory Dobrygin

Some horror films rely on monsters from other worlds, but others tell the story of the monster within, the one that waits dormant inside a man, nurtured by solitude and awoken by trauma. “How I Ended This Summer” from director Alexei Popogrebsky is one such horror.

This may be a misleading categorization, as there is no gore or gimmicky scare tactics. There are no bloody chainsaws to send shivers up the spine but instead a raw display of the fragility of humans pushed to a limit. Popogrebsky delicately constructs his characters, two men isolated on an Arctic meteorological station in northern Russia, so that they and their demons resonate with viewers. In many ways, the ability to connect to their vulnerability is far more horrifying than any extraterrestrial villain.

Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis) is a...

Documentaries and a gruesome true story were the high points of the closing week of the London film festival, says Jason Solomons

Danny Boyle's 127 Hours closed the 54th BFI London film festival, just as his Slumdog Millionaire ended the 52nd edition, both years saving one of the best till last. Although 127 Hours is ostensibly a flipside movie to Slumdog, it is in so many ways a typical Boyle movie, the work of a smart and popular artist whose quest for film ecstasy continues unabated.

The story is based on the true one – indeed, one of several at this Lff – of extreme sports enthusiast Aron Ralston, who bounded on stage before the gala to wave to the audience with his one remaining hand. 127 Hours is the story of the other hand, now a hook.

Boyle begins the film at frantic pace over Free Blood's dance anthem "Never Hear Surf Music...

British director Clio Barnard's The Arbor has won two London Film Festival awards. The film, which explores the life of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar, scooped the 'Best British Newcomer' and 'Sutherland' gongs at the awards ceremony last night. The 'Best Film' prize went to Alexei Popogrebsky's Russian drama How I Ended This Summer, about two men stationed at a remote meteorological outpost in the Arctic Circle. Actress Patricia Clarkson, who chaired the international jury, said of How I Ended This Summer: "Director Alexei Popogrebsky has combined stunning cinematography with painterly attention to production detail and drawn intense and subtle performances from actors Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis. "The film turns the hunter-versus-hunted narrative on its head (more)...

Alexei Popogrebsky's drama How I Ended This Summer was named the Best Film at the 54th BFI London Film Festival at a ceremony hosted by journalist and broadcaster Sue Perkins at London’s Lso St Luke’s this evening. On behalf of the jury, Chair Patricia Clarkson declared: “With elemental themes of isolation, alienation and the power of misunderstanding, How I Ended This Summer is a visceral psychological drama set in the immersive landscape of the windswept Arctic. “Director Alexei Popogrebsky has combined stunning cinematography with painterly attention to production detail and drawn intense and subtle performances from actors Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis. The film turns the hunter-versus-hunted narrative on its head to provoke powerful questions about life and death, resilience and human compassion. Tense, moving and universal in its scope, this is a cinematic tour de force.” Earlier this year, How I Ended This Summer earned stars Dobrygin...

Bran Nue Dae and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole have been nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in the Best Children’s Film and Best Animated Film categories respectively.

New Zealand’s Boy was also nominated for Best Children’s Film, and Australian actor Tony Barry has been recognised for his performance in that country’s feature Home by Christmas.

The Jury is headed by producer Lord David Puttnam, and winners will be announced on the Gold Coast on December 2.

The nominees are:

Best Feature Film

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock)

People’s Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Produced by Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping, Wang Zhonjun, Peter Lam Kin Ngok, Wang Tonguan and Albert Yeung.

Bal (Honey)

Turkey / Germany

Produced by Semih Kaplanoðlu.

Co-Produced by Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper.

Mengjia (Monga)

Taiwan

Produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer.

Paju

Republic of Korea

Produced...

David D'Arcy introduces a wide-ranging conversation...

How I Ended This Summer, written and directed by Alexei Popogrebsky, 37, makes its Us premiere this weekend in the New Directors / New Films series in New York. In Popogebsky's blithely-titled third film, a veteran sailor (Sergei Puskepalis) and a high-school graduate eager for adventure (Grigori Dobrygin) are measuring radiation on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean. A ship is due to bring them home...

Popogrebsky wrote his script with the actor Sergei Puskepalis in mind, and based his story on journals from 1912 by Nv Pinegin, who accompanied a failed mission to reach the North Pole. The film won a Silver Bear in Berlin for acting (awarded to both actors) and another for cinematography.

I met Popogrebsky three years ago, as a jury member at the Tbilisi International Film Festival, where the director received a prize for his previous film, Simple Things, which featured...

Immersing us in the frozen wilds of the Russian Arctic, writer/director Alexei Popogrebsky makes an impressive addition to the canon of films about man’s extraordinary ability to cope with harsh nature and extreme isolation. Young Pavel (Grigory Dobrygin) arrives at a remote research station for a summer of adventure under the tutelage of the wise and crusty Sergei (Sergei Puskepalis), whose multi-year tour of duty is coming to an end. Misplaced ...

This year’s Berlin Film Festival competition was very interesting indeed. Some directors got their chance to go home with a little gold-bear statue, while the other ones had to stand there and take not so good critics. Among all directors, from all over the world, one got pretty lucky, and for the second time in this festival history, Turkey celebrated.

The 60th Berlin Film Festival ended on Saturday with the prize ceremony, bringing to an end a 10-day cinema showcase where hundreds of movies were screened.

Golden Bear for Best Film won Semih Kaplanoglu’s new drama called Bal (Honey), which is actually the final installment of director’s trilogy that began with Milk and Egg.

In this movie we have an opportunity to see life of little Yusuf, and his tremendous love for his father.Yusuf’s father is a beekeeper, and when his bees suddenly disappear, he...

Roman Polanski won the Best Director Silver Bear for "The Ghost Writer" at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. The still-incarcerated director sent a message through one of his producers saying, "Even if I could come, I wouldn't because the last time I went to a festival to accept an award, I ended up in jail."

Meanwhile, "Honey," the heart-warming drama from Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu won the Golden Bear for best film. Romania's Florin Serban's juvenile delinquent drama "If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle" took home the Silver Bear Jury Prize. It also won the Alfred Bauer award, named after the Berlinale's founder.

Grigory Dobrygin and Sergei Puskepalis tied for Best Actor Silver Bears for Alexei Popogrebsky's "How I Ended This Summer" while Japan's Shinobu Terajima won the Best Actress Silver Bear for Koji Wakamatsu's "Caterpillar."

To see the complete list of winners at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival,...

With Berlinale wrapped, let's take one last looksie at random celebs working the premieres and photo ops. Part of our irregular red carpet lineup tradition. And then the awardage.

From left to right: I didn't know what Michael Winterbottom looked like, so I've included him here. He's a boyish 48. I think his career is pretty fascinating because it covers so much global ground and differing genre terrain. He's so prolific while still making intelligent films. I'm impatient so prolific works for me. That said, his new noir The Killer Inside Me might be one I'll have to skip. If festival types are so horrified by the violence I'm sure it's more than I can take.

Julianne Moore looking foxy on her way to fifty. She's gone a bit goth here with smoky eyes, black dress and black fingernails. More on her in a bit.

Two-time Oscar nominee Isabelle Adjani, who hasn't been working much,...

Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu's film Bal (Honey) won the Berlin Film Festival's prestigious Golden Bear prize Saturday.

The movie, about about a young boy who goes in search of his father after his father fails to return home was one of 20 films competing for the 60th anniversary Berlinale's top honours.

Relating how a bear smelling honey approached the production team as they were shooting the film, Kaplanoglu said "the bear is now back".

The festival's main programme included 18 world premieres, with three debut features.

Romanian director Florin Serban won two prizes for "Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluiere" (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle), about a young man in a youth detention centre who is facing up to the new realities that have emerged in the wake of the fall of Communism across Eastern Europe.

In addition to the Alfred Bauer prize for opening up new perspectives in cinema,...

What do Central Station (1998), The Thin Red Line (1999) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (2000) all have in common? They were awarded the top honor at the Berlin Film Festival and you can add Honey, the final leg in Semih Kaplanoglu's trilogy which commenced with Egg and last year's Milk, to that grouping. - What do Central Station (1998), The Thin Red Line (1999) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (2000) all have in common? They were awarded the top honor at the Berlin Film Festival and you can add Honey, the final leg in Semih Kaplanoglu's trilogy which commenced with Egg and last year's Milk, to that grouping. Florin Serban's If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, which won Alfred Bauer Prize, also claimed 2nd place prize in the Silver Bear - The Jury Grand Prize - thus continuing the wave of film festival winning Romanian cinema.

George Pistereanu, Ada Condeescu in Florin Serban’s If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (top); Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis in Alexei Popgrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer (upper middle); Shinobu Terajima in Koji Wakamatsu’s Caterpillar (lower middle); Sebastian Hiort af Ornäs in Babak Najafi’s Sebbe (bottom) Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban won two prizes for If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival: the Grand Prix Silver Bear and the Alfred Bauer prize for innovative filmmaking. If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle focuses on an incarcerated young man who takes a social worker hostage shortly before he is to be released from a youth detention center. The film is one more example of Romania’s [...]...

Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu's film Bal (Honey) won the Berlin Film Festival's prestigious Golden Bear prize Saturday.The movie, about about a young boy who goes in search of his father after his father fails to return home was one of 20 films competing for the 60th anniversary Berlinale's top honours.Relating how a bear smelling honey approached the production team as they were shooting the film, Kaplanoglu said 'the bear is now back'.The festival's main programme included 18 world premieres, with three debut features.Romanian director Florin Serban won two prizes for 'Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluiere' (If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle), about a young man in a youth detention centre who is facing up to the new realities that have emerged in the wake of the fall of Communism across Eastern Europe.In addition to the Alfred Bauer prize for opening up new perspectives in cinema,...

LONDON -- Alexei Popogrebsky's debut as a solo director, "Simple Things" -- a drama about a dying actor who begs a doctor to help him commit suicide in return for a valuable masterpiece -- swept the board at the closing awards ceremony of Russia's top national film festival, Kinotavr, late Monday.

Popogrebsky -- who first gained critical attention as co-director with Boris Khlebnikov of the award-winning "Roads to Koktebel" in 2003 -- won Kinotavr's Grand Prix and also picked up best director while the film's Sergei Puskepalis took best actor at the closing of the festival's 18th edition in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Leonid Bronevoy won the award for best male role for his part in the film.

The film -- one of the highlights in a competition lineup criticized for lax editing and confused storytelling -- also shared the Russian Critics Award with Alexei Balabanov's gruesome tale of a mid-1980s provincial Soviet psychopath, "Cargo 200".

Balabanov -- responsible for such classics as the gangster movie "Brother" and sepia-toned semi-pornographic tale "About Freaks and Men" -- caused a sensation at Sochi with his new film's uncompromisingly bleak and violent images of a young woman taken hostage and sexually abused for the benefit of a crazed police officer.