Kantemir Balagov. Photo from personal account in Vkontakte social network, vk.com/kant_balag

27 May 2017, 22:15

Kantemir Balagov's film awarded at Cannes Film Festival

The documentary film "Tightness", which tells about the Jewish family from Nalchik, won the prize of the International Federation of Film Press. The film was presented in the second by importance contest programme "A Special Look" of the Cannes Film Festival.

"Thank you for letting this story touching you and for you not turning away from it. I really hope that this award will affect the creation of cinematography in Northern Caucasus," the "Interfax" quotes director Kantemir Balagov as saying at today's awarding ceremony.

The film by Balagov is dedicated to a Jewish family, who went at fight with bandits of Nalchik after the kidnapping of their younger son and his bride.

The film has a fragment, where teenagers watch a video in which Chechen militants cut off Russians' heads. "These are memories of my childhood. We were 12-13 years old then, and cassettes with this video were given from hand to hand. It was important for me to show this atmosphere; and to emphasize the multinational nature of the world we live in," the "Around TV" edition quotes the film director.

Kantemir Balagov believes that his film will not be accepted in his homeland, in Northern Caucasus. "Residents there are not ready to watch themselves from aside; they are concerned about honour and dignity, although these two notions are already very far from them. When you show something from aside, they react very painfully," he said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

All news
НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ООО “МЕМО”, ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ООО “МЕМО”.

January 09, 2025 23:17

  • Lawyers: court in Chechnya violates Musaeva’s right to defence

    A notification of an advocate an hour and a half before the start of the hearing at the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya, which left Zarema Musaeva in custody in the case on disorganization of the activities of the penal colony, violated the equality of the parties and the defendant’s right to defence.

January 09, 2025 22:56

January 09, 2025 22:46

  • Family of escaped Dagestani Zaira Pirova offers her to return home

    Zaira Pirova, a native of Dagestan, who fled to Georgia, has contacted her relatives, but was unable to convince them that she had left home voluntarily. She said that she missed her family. The girl's father gave her two days to think about it and promised that if she returned, she would be "treated specially."

January 09, 2025 21:14

January 08, 2025 23:34

  • Rights defenders refute abduction version of Dagestani Zaira Pirova

    The father of Zaira Pirova, who fled from Dagestan to Georgia, claims that his daughter was abducted and is kept under a threat to execute her family. However, human rights defenders object stating that Zaira had left home voluntarily and left Russia because of her relatives' attempts to find her.

News archive