Success of Russian film directors at Leipzig film festival

The works of Russian film directors Oksana Cherkasova and Alexander Rastorguyev won the highest awards of the 46th international festival of documentary and animated films which ended in Leipzig last night.

The Golden Dove of the Leipzig film festival in the animated films section was presented to Oksana Cherkasova for the film A Man from the Moon telling about the ups and downs of a Russian scientist-researcher.

Alexander Rastorguyev received the special prize For an Outstanding East-European Documentary. In his film the Russian director told the audience about one day from the life of soldiers in Chechnya, a day when they only cleaned and washed their uniform.

The Golden Doves will go, alongside Russia, also to France and Sweden.

The main prize for a full-length documentary was presented in Leipzig to French director Rity Panout for the film C21 - Death Machine of Red Khmers.

A Golden Dove prize was awarded to Swedish director Pi Holmkvist for the short documentary-portrait My Father - Inspector.

A broad show of a retrospective of Soviet documentaries and animated films which were earlier known and unknown to the public at large was a peculiar feature of the present international film festival in Leipzig.