The winners of the XX Kazan International Film Festival “Altyn minbar” have been announced

The winners of the forum were announced at the closing ceremony of the XX Kazan International Film Festival “Altyn minbar”, which took place within the walls of the Galiasgar Kamal Tatar State Academic Theatre.

At the beginning of the celebration, the audience was shown the diary of the film festival, which included the highlights of this year's project. Then Marat Akhmetov, Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, greeted the audience.

““Altyn minbar” is a prestigious festival. 800 applications for participation from 47 countries confirm this. Cinematographers from all over the world are attracted here because here there is an opportunity to look at their work with a fresh eye, comparing their projects with the achievements of colleagues. This festival makes a huge contribution to strengthening international cooperation,” he believes.

Marat Akhmetov had the honour to present the prize of the Rais of Tatarstan “For Humanism in Cinematography” and the award in the amount of 500 thousand roubles to director Rauf Kubaev for the film “Deaf Cuckoo” (Russia, Tatarstan).

Also, that evening, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Rector of Kazan State Institute of Culture Roza Akhmadieva awarded the winners of the best short national film - the film “Amina” directed by Sergey Kiatrov (Russia, Tatarstan), the best documentary national film - the film “The Hands of Maestro” by Alexey Barykin (Russia, Tatarstan) and the best national film for children “I will come” by Bulat Sabitov (Russia, Tatarstan).

She also had the honour to announce the winner in the nomination “National Competition”. The prize for the best national film was awarded to the film “Monisto” by Gulnaz Galimullina (Russia).

“Tatarstan cinema has a huge potential. Many works should be presented at international festivals. They must definitely participate in such projects so that the viewers around the world can see this phenomenon,” said the jury member Premendra Mazumder (India).

This was followed by a series of awarding special prizes to the participants. Thus, the special prize for faith in the art of cinema named after Zufar Bukharaev was awarded to the film “Memory Paints” by Yuriy Gvozd.

The diploma of the Guild of Film Experts and Film Critics of the Russian Cinematographers' Union was awarded to the film “Sweet sour” by Ahmed Alhasawi (Saudi Arabia), and the prize was awarded to the film “Paradise” by Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka).

This year, a special nomination was established for the Special Programme “War and Peace - New Territories”. The tapes of this programme help to preserve historical memory, convey the personal stories of heroes. They play an important role in the education of the younger generation, showing the value of peace through the prism of military events. Farit Farisov's film “Well, Hello, Darling” was awarded for its special vision and modern approach to preserving the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland.

One of the most important prizes of any film festival is “Audience Award”. Milyausha Aituganova, the executive director of “Altyn Minbar” and the director of “Tatarkino”, believes so: “After all, films is shot primarily for the viewer.”

This year, the film “Sufism” by Younes Ben Hajria (Tunisia) won the hearts of the audience.

In addition, Aituganova awarded diplomas for their contribution to the development of the festival to Ashraf Sarhan (Egypt) and Almohannad Kalthoum (Syria). Amir Abbyasov, the youngest participant of the film festival, also took the stage. He received the diploma “Successful film debut” from the hands of the executive director.

Vyacheslav Korablev was also awarded a diploma for his contribution to the development of Tatarstan cinema.

The special mention of the jury was awarded to Haobam Paban Kumar with the film “Joseph`s Son” (India).

This year the NETPAC jury singled out the work from Turkey – “Glass Curtain” by Fikret Reyhan.

The award “For the Dialogue of Cultures in the Islamic World” was shared by two films from the program “Russia - Islamic World”: “Paradise under Mothers’ Feet” by Ruslan Akun (Kyrgyzstan) and “The Slave” by Abdelilah El Jaouhary (Morocco).

First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia and the DUM of the Russian Federation Rushan hazrat Abbyasov came on stage to congratulate all those present on the successful completion of the film project and to present awards.

“Our film festival has the most important educational mission. Friends have come from many countries who share our spiritual and moral values. This is what we dreamt about 20 years ago, when the film project was just beginning. We hope that for the same number of years the festival will broadcast our spiritual values and call for peace for all people on the planet,” he said.

Lilia Burkhanova was awarded the letter of thanks for her great contribution to the preservation of spiritual values, the organization and holding of the film festival. Svetlana Bukharaeva was awarded the Russian Muslim Medal for the promotion of national culture and traditions of the Tatar people, and Milyausha Aituganova was awarded the Russian Muslim Medal for the promotion of national cinematography, long-term work on the preservation and popularization of the cultural heritage of the Tatar people.

The most important awards were traditionally left for last. So the audience learned that the film “Namys” by Rafael Mukaev (Russia) was recognized as the best short-length film, and the film “20 Years Later” by Moussa Touré (Senegal) became the best documentary film this year.

“Few people know that before 1920, 50 percent of documentaries were shot in Russia. Most professionals of this genre were born in this country. Much later, the initiative to shoot documentary films was taken up in Europe. Alas, they are not yet on the same level as feature films. But this year, the jury debates revolved around three works,” confessed jury member Misfer Almousa (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

And still the committee managed to determine the winner. It was the film “20 Years Later” by Moussa Touré (Senegal).

Animation can be safely called one of the most actively developing genres in cinema. That is why the nomination has been revived at the film festival since this year. The animation film “Paper Flowers” by Ramak Amin Kazemi (Iran) won this prize.

The closer we got to the moment of the announcement of the Grand Prix that evening, the more heated the atmosphere in the hall became. But before the main winner, the best director and screenwriter of a full-length feature film was announced to the audience. Both nominations went to the director and screenwriter Salavat Yuzeev of the film “The Mountain of Lovers” (Russia, Tatarstan).

The winner of the award in the nomination “Best cinematography of a full-length feature film” was the cameraman of the film “Bauyryna Salu” Janarbek Eleubek (Kazakhstan) 

The winners of the traditional nominations “Best Actor in a Feature Film” and “Best Actress in a Feature Film” were Ulmas Oraev from the film “Evolution” (Uzbekistan) and Sepideh Arman from “Gazelle” (Iran).

Finally, the chairman of the jury Metin Gunay announced the name of the winner of the main prize of the film forum - the Grand Prix for the best full-length feature film. This year the film work “The Legends of Endless Snow” by Alexey Romanov (Russia) was recognized as the winner.

“I am very happy to receive this award, especially here. After all, Kazan has a symbolic meaning for Yakut cinema. 28 years ago, when our cinematography was just taking its first steps, we came to this city with the days of Yakut cinema. So Kazan gave an impulse to the development of Yakut cinema,” said Alexey Romanov.

It should be noted that 814 representatives of the film industry from 47 countries wished to take part in this year's film project - that's how many applications the organizing committee of the festival accepted this year. But only 51 films were included in the competition program of the project. All of them reflect universal spiritual and moral values and cultural traditions, bearing the ideas of peacemaking, religious tolerance and humanism.

We remind that the XX Kazan International Festival “Altyn minbar” was held from 6 to 11 September 2024. The motto of the festival: “Through the dialogue of cultures - to the culture of dialogue” calls the whole world in the language of cinema to friendship and cooperation of representatives of all nationalities and religions.

It should also be noted that “Altyn minbar” festival was included in the list of film projects supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Kazan International Film Festival is held with the support of Rustam Minnikhanov, the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Ministry of Culture of Russia, as well as in partnership with the Strategic Vision Group “Russia - Islamic World”.