MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. "Shame" directed by Miguel Salgado (Mexico, Qatar) was awarded the best film prize - Golden Saint George - at the award ceremony of the 46th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), TASS reported.
"We made this movie about a very serious problem (the youth’s involvement in criminal groups - TASS), which we have been fighting and are still fighting in Mexico," the director said.
The film is focused on two teenagers Pedro and Lucio, who are forced to fight each other to the death in order to survive after being abducted. Pedro wins. He manages to escape, but is tormented by guilt to Lucio. The drama stars Myriam Bravo, Fernando Cuautle, Juan Ramon Lopez, Francisco Mena, and Marya Membreno.
Icelandic film director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, chairman of the jury of the main competition, handed the award to Salgado at the MIFF closing ceremony.
The best director’s Silver Saint George was awarded to Iran’s Nahid Azizi Sedigh for her drama "Cold Sigh."
"It is a great honor for me to be here in this hall. Thank you very much to the festival jury," she said receiving the award.
A young boy finds out that his father has been released from jail after serving a long sentence for killing his wife. The son has not coped with this and is still angry and resentful. He decides to hit the road to bring his father back home.
"Liar" directed by Yulia Trofimova won the Silver Saint George award in the Russian premiere competition.
"Nirvana" by Asif Islam from Bangladesh earned the festival’s special award. This black and white silent movie resembling a photo album tells the story of the inner journey of three characters.
Russian acclaimed director Sergey Ursulyak received the MIFF award for an outstanding contribution to the world cinema.
MIFF President Nikita Mikhalkov said at the closing ceremony that the festival’s screenings had been well attended, attracting 39,000 viewers.
"Eight days of the festival, 240 films, 56 countries, 380 screenings in nine cinemas, 39,000 viewers. This is a good result," Mikhalkov said.
The 46th Moscow International Film Festival kicked off on April 19. It was founded in 1935, which makes it the world’s second oldest film festival after the Venice event. In 1995 it was announced that the film festival would become annual, although it was not held in 1996 and 1998. Since 1999, the MIFF has been held every year. The president of the film festival is director Nikita Mikhalkov. TASS is the information partner of the MIFF.