15th International Film festival of Asian Pacific countries Pacific Meridian has finished in Vladivostok.
Gran-Prix for the Best Feature Award went to Closeness by Kantemir Balagov. As we reported
earlier, this low budget feature tells the story of the kidnapping of a young couple in a close-knit Jewish community. Balagov involved non-professional actors from Nagornu Karabakh region to participate in the film. Closeness has already received Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival and Grand Prix at the 11th Andrey Tarkovsky The Mirror International Film Festival. The leading actress Darya Zhovner from Closeness received the The Best Actress award.
Australian director Luci Schroder was awarded the Best Short Film Award for his movie Slapper non-conformist episode on broke and rebellious teen's life.
The Best Director Award went to Colombian native located in Argentina director Vladimir Durán for his feature So Long Enthusiasm.
The Best Actor prizes were received by Issey Takahashi and Lily Franky who starred in first full-length movie Blank, directed by Japanese Saito Takumi.
The Audience Choice Award for the Best Russian Film went to tragicomedy Thawed Carp directed byVladimir Kott. Legendary actresses Marina Neelova and Alisa Freindlikh are joined by one generation younger film star Yevgeny Mironov making the film a real gem.
It is worth mentioning that about 180 films were competing at the festival. About 50 of them were shown for the very first time. Aside of the main program, there was film retrospective of Andrey Konchalovsky who recently
celebrated his 80th birthday.
Russkiy Mir
