Sabit Kurmanbekov's Oralman receives Special Achievement Award at IFFMH
According to the publication, the calm, emotionally moving film about ethnic Kazakhs returning to their historical homeland from Afghanistan was also praised by the Ecumenical Jury, which is composed by the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany.
The main prize of the Festival, the Grand Newcomer Award, went to an Italian anti-drama feature film by Vito Palmieri See you in Texas and the Special Newcomer Award for the best unconventionally narrated feature film was given to Baboy Halas by Bagane Fiola. The Audience Award was shared by two family dramas Une vie ailleurs and Zer. Une vie ailleurs, which opened the festival, was also awarded the Ecumenical Film Prize and Kazim Öz's Zer the International Film Critics‘ Prize.
66th IFFMH was held from November 9 to 19, 2017 in Germany with over 500 professional participants from France, Argentina, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, India, Iran, Israel, Turkey, the USA, Germany, and Kazakhstan and approximately 60,000 visitors.
The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival is held annually since 1952 by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The festival presents arthouse films of international newcomer directors.
As previously reported, Oralman had its world premiere at the 35th International Film Festival Fajr in Tehran where it received wide recognition, including the main prize in the foreign films category. Sabit Kurmanbekov's film was also awarded the Grand Prix of the 13th International Film Festival Eurasia and received the Best Film Award and a special mention of the independent SIGNIS jury at the 20th International Film Festival Religion today in Italy. In addition, actor Dulyga Akmolda won the Best Actor Award at the 13th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival.
In December, Oralman is expected to open the 4th International Film Festival of National and Ethnic Cinema Silver Akbuzat in Bashkortostan.