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Konchalovsky glad his film Paradise is absent from list of Oscar nominees

Konchalovsky believes his film has already won the award that is most precious to him

Andrey Konchalovsky Artiom Geodakyan/TASS

Andrey Konchalovsky

© Artiom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russian film director Andrey Konchalovsky’s 2016 release called Paradise is absent from the list of nominees for Oscar awards, but the news seems to have not upset the film-maker at all.

"I can only thank God it’s not there," Konchalovsky told TASS. "Hollywood is not the center of the world. I’ve said this many times: ‘Oscar is grossly overestimated"."

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Konchalovsky believes that in his opinion his film has already won the award that is most precious to him.

"It’s the Russian critics’ award White Elephant," Konchalovsky said. "Our critics are rather emotional. They are also strict and unbridled, I should say. Their award is very previous to me."

The film is built around the intertwining destinies of three main characters during the Second World War: Russian aristocrat-emigrant and member of the French Resistance Olga (Yuliya Vysotskaya), a French collaborator Jules (Philippe Duquesne) and a high-ranking SS officer Helmut (Christian Clauss).

The world premiere of Paradise took place at the Venice Film Festival on September 8, 2016. Konchalovsky was awarded the Silver Lion for the best direction. In Russia, the film hit the screens on January 19. It has been nominated for the domestic film award Golden Eagle.

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