Kyrgyz Director Kanybek Kalmatov Named Best at Eurasian Film Award "Diamond Butterfly"

Kyrgyz director Kanybek Kalmatov has been awarded the prize for best directing at the Second Open Eurasian Film Award "Diamond Butterfly" for the film "Aitmatov". The award ceremony took place in Moscow, the organizers said.

This year, 41 films from 19 countries competed for the award. The main prize — the "Diamond Butterfly" for best film — went to the picture "August" by directors Nikita Vysotsky and Ilya Lebedev.

Zhasulan Kopbergen (Kazakhstan, "Restart") was named best actor, and Dananir Mubir (Pakistan, "My Lyari") best actress. The prize for best screenplay was awarded to Alireza Motamedi (Iran, "Daughter of the Fairy Lady").

Roman Naumovich ("Turning Point") became best supporting actor, and Sladjana Zrnic (Serbia, "The Hand of Justice") best supporting actress. The prize for best production design went to Vladimir Gudilin, Sergei Agin and Yulia Makushina (the film "August"). Kasym Muinzoda of Uzbekistan (the film "The Great Amir") was named best composer. Best cinematographer was Alexander Plotnikov (Kazakhstan, "Evacuation", directed by Farkhad Sharipov).

The picture "Street 232" by director Rudi Mora (Cuba) was recognized as the best film from outside the Eurasian space. A special prize "For Contribution to World Cinema" was presented to actress Alisa Freindlich.

The "Diamond Butterfly" is the flagship event of the Eurasian Academy of Cinematic Arts.