THE RUSSIAN OSCARS SINGLE OUT ZVYAGINZEV AND DOSTOYEVSKY

01.31.2012
russia-ic.com

The Golden Eagle Award ceremony, a kind of Russian Oscars, saw Yelena by Andrei Zvyagintzev taking four awards, including Best Picture.

Out of 8 nominations in total, Yelena – the biggest Russian film success in a very long time – took four Eagles: Best Picture, Best Director (Andrei Zvyagintzev), Best Supporting Actress (Yelena Lyadova), and Best Camerawork (Mikhail Krichman).

The miniseries Dostoyevsky, starring Yevgeny Mironov, took awards for Best TV Miniseries, Best TV Actor (Yevgeny Mironov), and Best TV Actress (Valentina Talyzina).

The screen adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, made by Yuri Kara in 1993 and finally released in 2011, was awarded Golden Eagles for Best Art Direction (Yuri Ustinov and Boris Kuzovkin) and Best Costume Design (Liudmila Chekulayeva, Anna Kuznetzova, Olga Polyanskaya, Nina Korotkikh). The much-loved Russian actor Valentin Gaft, who played the part of Woland in the film, was awarded a Special Award for Contribution to Cinema.

The film Two Days by Avdotya Smirnova (who recently married the Russian privatization figurehead Anatoly Chubais) received awards for Best Actor and Actress (Fyodor Bondarchouk and Kseniya Rappoport, respectively).

A special nomination at the ceremony celebrates a foreign film that proved popular with the Russian box office. This year it was The King's Speech by Tom Hooper.