Winners of BRICS Film Festival are announced

The BRICS Film Festival, part of the Moscow International Film Festival programme, has announced the winners. The film "Hajjan" directed by Abu Bakr Shawky and produced by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan was recognised as the best.

The international jury included producer, director and screenwriter Aleksey Pimanov (chairman), South African actress Florence Masebe, Ethiopian producer Yirgashewa Teshome Amare, Chinese film critic Zhao Shuguang, and the first female director of the United Arab Emirates Nayla Al Khaja.

The Best Actress Award went to Rana Khattab for her film Rat Hole by Egyptian director Mohammed El-Samman. The award for Best Actor went to Russian actor Aleksander Yatsenko for the film "Abnormal" directed by Ilya Malanin. The award for Best Director went to Abu Bakr Shawky.

The Special Jury Prize went to the film "Step towards your dream once and for all" by Chinese Da Peng.

A total of seven films from Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, South Africa and Iran were presented in the competition. In addition, more than 20 films were shown at the festival's out-of-competition programmes.

During the business programme, participants and guests of the event discussed the peculiarities of the national film industry and distribution, intellectual property rights in the creative industries of the BRICS countries, the impact of festivals on the possibility of entering the global film market, and also talked to Russian film producers about possible co-productions.