Overview
- The first Diamond Butterfly awards were held on Nov. 27 at Nikita Mikhalkov’s Workshop 12 in Moscow, with 34 films from Russia, China and other countries considered by an expert council.
- ‘Against the Current’ by Xu Zheng took Best Film, receiving a ten-carat Yakutian diamond valued at $1 million, while other category winners were awarded five-carat diamonds.
- Major honors included Best Director for Serbia’s Goran Radovanović (Forest King) and acting awards for Alexander Adabashyan and Svetlana Kryuchkova for ‘Two in One Life, Not Counting the Dog,’ with Carol Shore (South Africa) winning screenplay and Majid Majidi (Iran) recognized for contribution to world cinema.
- Nikita Mikhalkov said it is premature to create a separate category for AI-made films and condemned using AI to digitally ‘resurrect’ deceased performers.
- State backing was on display as a presidential greeting was read by Vladimir Medinsky, and public screenings of competing films have begun in Moscow before a tour to 12 Russian cities plus New Delhi and Minsk in early December.