IV «Eurasia» IFF, Almaty, 2007

The year 2007 saw 97 screenings in 10 theaters of Almaty in seven days during the 4th“Eurasia” film festival. Festival program included 78 films from 22 countries of the world. 9 world premiers, 14 – films shown in the territory of the CIS countries for the first time ever.

280 journalists were accredited at the festival including 30 representatives of foreign Media. The “Eurasia” reports were broadcasted on Euronews channel (France) and Kultura (Russia). 27 press conferences and two round table discussions were held with the guests and participants of the film festival. Eurasian Projects Market was of particular interest. It presented in-development films from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan.

The total of 187 film professionals from 34 world countries attended the festival. Those were the producers and distributors, international film festival selectors and film critics. The Fourth «Eurasia» IFF saw the record breaking number of world celebrities – 10. Including French stars Gerard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau, Christopher Lambert, Emmanuelle Beart; the most famous Iranian actresses Leila Hatami, Fatimeh Mohammed Arri; American celebrities Gary Busey, Jacqueline Bisset,Lane Davies, Indian star Nandita Das. The most multiple delegations came from Russia – 39 people; France – 22, USA – 9; Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan – 8 people each. The smallest delegations in number but very respectable came from Argentina – Ariel Rotter, film director and the head of International Jury; Taiwan – Asian star-director Tsai Ming Liang; the Philippines – director Brilliante Mendosa, Hong Kong  – famous Asian producer and distributor – Alexander Sun.

Stacking up the film festival, film critics and journalists noted the new names emerging in the Central Asian film directing, a good level of film festival’s program and participation of celebrities from both Europe and Asia.

Award winners at IV “Eurasia” IFF:

International Competition;

• Best Film Grand Prix – «Half Moon», Iran-France-Austria-Iraq), directed by Bahman Ghobadi;
• Best Director award – «Simple Things», Russia, directed by Aleksey Popogrebskij;
• Special Jury Prize: «Foster Child», the Philippines, directed by Brilliante Mendosa, «Shuga», Kazakhstan-France, directed by Darezhan Omirbayev;
• Best Female Performance: Binbin Fan («Lost in Beijing», China);
• Best Male performance: Leonid Bronevoi («Simple Things», Russia);

Competition of Central Asian and Turk speaking countries:

• Best Film Grand Prix – «Swift», Kazakhstan, directed by Abai Kulbai;
• «Bos Salkyn», Kyrgyzstan, directed by Ernest Abdyzhapparov;
• Best Director award – Fatih Haciosmanoglu («Stone Pillow», Turkey);
• Special Jury Prize was not awarded;
• Diploma for Best Female Performance – Dinara Kashaganova (“Kuna” by Bolat Sharip, Kazakhstan;
• NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) jury award— «Swift», directed by Abai Kulbai (Kazakhstan).
• Award for contribution to Cinema Art development – Nurmukhan Zhanturin (post-mortem);
• Award for the contribution to the world cinema – Jacqueline Bisset.