Russian films win major awards in the Cinema XXI Century program in Rome

A documentary comedy by Russian film director Alyona Polunina (Nepal Forever) has been named the best film of the second Cinema XXI Century contest program at the Eighth Rome Film Festival. The jury headed by American photographer and film director Larry Clark announced the winners late on Saturday. Polunina’s film tells the story of two contemporary young Communists from St. Petersburg who go to Nepal to reconcile the followers of the Nepalese revolution. The jury’s special prize went to Andrei Silvestrov and Yuri Leiderman for an experimental picture titled “The Birmingham Ornament-2”, an anthology of short stories shot in various parts of the globe. The Russians outdid Jonathan Demme, the author of the Silence of the Lambs cult film. This year, he brought a screen version of “The Master Builder”, a play by Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen. No Russian films took part in the main contest run. Russian film director Fyodor Bondarchuk presented his new military drama (Stalingrad) to European audiences off contest. A film by Alexei German the senior (It is Hard to be a God) also made the world debut. The Russian master was posthumously awarded a special prize for contribution to cinema art.