WINNERS

IRIDA Russian-British International Film Festival and Awards (SIFFA 2021)

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

The winner was selected from among nine competition films by the following jury members:

photo of Elena Razgolova

ELENA RAZGOLOVA

HEAD OF THE JURY, PROFESSOR AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY IN MONTREAL, FILM STUDIES EXPERT.

photo of Beslan Terekbaev

BESLAN TEREKBAEV

CEO OF CHECHENFILM, DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER, PRODUCER.

photo of Dmitry Yakunin

DMITRY YAKUNIN

DIRECTOR OF BUDEM ZHIT'! FILM FESTIVAL, PRODUCER.

Best Short Film - Saiti, Son of Zoulya (Russia, Ingushetia), directed and produced by Amur Amerkhanov. The main character, teenager Saiti, has to decide quickly what is more important: the desire for revenge or the ancient hospitality law.

Special Jury Mention - The Stench (South Korea). Director and screenwriter Won Jang received a diploma “for concise visual expression of a complex philosophical problem of social isolation”.

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

The winner was selected from among nine competition films by the following jury members:

photo of Gulbara Tolomushova

GULBARA TOLOMUSHOVA

HEAD OF JURY, MEMBER OF FIPRESCI AND UNION OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS OF KYRGYZSTAN, FILM STUDIES EXPERT AND FILM CRITIC.

photo of Elena Demidova

ELENA DEMIDOVA

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER

Photo of Vladimir Marin

VLADIMIR MARIN

CREATOR OF POPULAR SCIENCE FILMS, DIRECTOR.

Best Documentary Film - Pianist from Ramallah by Avida Livny (Israel). In order to achieve his dream of becoming a pianist talented teenager Muhammad from Palestine overcomes many obstacles over four years: borders, separation from his family, prejudice, COVID restrictions.

Special Jury Mention - Russian film Beaumonde Scrapping. Nikolai N. Victorov received a diploma for “accurately depicting communication between the director and his character”.

MAIN COMPETITION

The winner was selected from among twelve competition feature films by the following international jury members:

photo of Mohy Quandour

MOHY QUANDOUR

HONORARY HEAD OF THE JURY, PRODUCER.

photo of Natalya Bondarchuk

NATALYA BONDARCHUK

HEAD OF JURY, HONORED ARTIST OF RUSSIA, DIRECTOR.

Photo of Francis Barber

FRANCIS BARBER

CO-HEAD OF THE JURY, HOLLYWOOD AND BRITISH ACTRESS.

Photo of Alena Khmelnitskaya

ALENA KHMELNITSKAYA

TELEVISION PRESENTER, THEATRE AND FILM ACTRESS.

Photo of Alexander Litvinov

ALEXANDER LITVINOV

PRODUCER, HONORED CULTURAL FIGURE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

MARAT AKHMEDZHANOV

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE VICE-CHAIRMAN OF EURASIAN CREATIVE GUILD (UK-KAZAKHSTAN).

Head of the Main Competition Jury Natalya Bondarchuk exclaimed before the awards ceremony: “Awarding creators of good films is pure happiness!”

Best Directing - Zero Nine, director Bakhtyar Fatah (first Iraqi thriller).

Best Screenplay - Warning (US)

Best Cinematography - Yuri Berezhnev, DOP, Tygyn Darhan.

Best Production Design - Peter Boyarkin, production designer, Tygyn Darhan.

Best Actress - actress Shiva Rani Kalita forThe Bridge(India).

Best Actor - Tolepbergen Baisakalov, lead in the filmFiredirected by Aizhan Kassymbek (Kazakhstan).

Best Music - Rob Marshall who composed the music for "7 Hours on Earth" directed by Patricia Sharpe in addition to producing

the film.

Special Main Jury Prize went to Vladimir Alenikov for Heavenly Team(Russia).

Special diplomas were awarded to directors:

  • Anatoly Balchev for long-term dedication to his project The Passenger from San Francisco (Russia-US).

  • Galina Urazova for best sound design in The Trap (Russia).

  • Daria Binevskaya for the kindest film, Africa (Russia).

Jury co-chair, Hollywood and British actress Frances Barber noted the quality of competition films. She was most impressed by the film Africa, a story about a dog saving a family during the siege of Leningrad.

SIFFA President’s Award went to the creators of the cinematic performance Sound-Signs of the Circassian (Adyghe) Language + the Transformation of Malevich’s Black Square from Kabardino-Balkaria. The award will be given to artist Ruslan Tsrym for providing a vivid example of performance art that combines the primacy of language and art and to director Tamerlan Vasiliev for depicting it on the screen.

SIFFA President’s Award went to the creators of the cinematic performance

Sound-Signs of the Circassian (Adyghe) Language + the Transformation of Malevich’s Black Square from Kabardino-Balkaria. The award will be given to artist Ruslan Tsrym for providing a vivid example of performance art that combines the primacy of language and art and to director Tamerlan Vasiliev for depicting it on the screen.

Press Award was given to the film Warning (USA). Its creators try to predict the future of humanity, when technical innovation cannot mitigate people’s flaws. The film is urgent and important as a stark reminder of the fragility of our planet.

At the ceremony the Press Award was accepted by the one of producers Stephen Mao.

IRIDA MUSIC FESTIVAL

SIFFA was able to add the music festival as another part of its program thanks to the grant from the Russian Culture Fund as part of the National Culture Program’s Creative People Federal Project.

Maestro Maxim Vengerov, world-renowned violinist received SIFFA’s golden statuette for an outstanding contribution to world music and for supporting the festival during the pandemic. Maxim Vengerov, Soviet and Russian violinist, conductor, Grammy Award winner: “Music is a unique language. It requires no translation. Music is what unites countries and people around the world. In these uncertain times Luba Balagova was able to hold this first IRIDA Music Festival with the aim to preserve Russian school classical music heritage and promote unique local cultures of the North Caucasus.

IRIDA Music Festival diploma for contributions to the development of the art of music was awarded to Oleg Soldatov, winner of the Russian government award, Honoured Artist of the Republic of Karelia.

IRIDA Music Festival diploma for outstanding achievements and virtuosity and for supporting the IRIDA Music Festival was awarded to people’s artist cellist Mikhail Utkin.

IRIDA Music Festival diploma for extraordinary talent and for supporting the IRIDA Music Festival was awarded to opera tenor Sergey Radchenko.

IRIDA Music Festival diploma for the refined gracefulness of the art of dance was awarded to the Shagdi Dance Ensemble, accepted by Zarema Unazhokova.

Valery Vorona, Artistic Director of the IRIDA Music Festival and the main conductor of the Moscow Youth Chamber Orchestra, received the IRIDA Music Festival diploma for his devotion to the SIFFA Film Festival and his support of the IRIDA Music Festival.

Nina Kochelyaeva, SIFFA director of programming: “Music has always been part of the festival but this is the first year where we have created a separate music program thanks to the support of the Russian Culture Fund. Music has always played a special role in film because it immerses the viewer in the atmosphere of what is happening on screen. We hope that this new feature will help the audience discover new aspects of the relationship between music and film.”