Emir Baigazin's 'The River' wins Grand Prix at international film festival

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - "The River" ("Ozen") by Kazakh filmmaker Emir Baigazin won the Best Film Award at the Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival 2018 (the 12th Edition of LEFFEST) held in Portugal from 16 to 25 November, Kazinform has learned from Kazakhfilm Studio.

The film by Emir Baigazin competed with the best films of Europe, Asia, North and South Americas.

Announcing the winner, jury member Martha Argerich said that "The River" is a wonderful film with unusual expressiveness, poetic power, hypnotism, grandeur, and humanism, adding that the unique film amazed the jury from the first frame.

At the LEFFEST, there are only three prizes: the Best Film Award, the Grand Jury Prize, and the Jury Special Prize.

It is noteworthy that in 2013, "Harmony Lessons" by Emir Baygazin won the Grand Jury Prize.

In addition, the prize for contribution to the world cinematography was presented to Kazakh filmmaker Darezhan Omirbayev. A complete retrospective of his feature films was shown at the festival.

Kazakhstan (Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhfilm JSC, Emir Baigazin Production), Norway (Norsk Filmproduksjon) and Poland (Madants) participated in the production of "The River" motion picture.