"Cuckoo" film receives Grand prix in Normandy

Alexander Rogozhkin's "Cuckoo" film received a Grand prix during the 11-th Russian-film festival in Honfleur, Normandy, northern France.

Famous French film director and actor Francis Juster, who chaired the festival jury, announced its decision, stressing that "Cuckoo" was a real masterpiece, which deserved a prize at the famed Cannes film festival.

Rogozhkin's work came as a revelation for French experts and film audiences alike. Small wonder, "Cuckoo" received the Grand Prix, as well as the best-actress (Anni-Christina Juuso) and best-actor (Victor Bychkov) prizes.

Meanwhile Gennady Sidorov's "Old Women" film stole more prizes than any other movie at the festival. This film received a special jury prize, the most-liked-film prize, the Lower Normandy regional prize, as well as the best-actress prize (that was shared with "Cuckoo").

Talking to RIA-NOVOSTI, the festival jury's chairman cited the outstanding performance of actress Renata Litvinova in Vera Storozheva's "Sky, Plane, Girl" film, as well as that of Konstantin Khabensky in Philip Yankovsky's "Moving Ahead". According to Juster, Litvinova's potential enables her to become an actress reminiscent of Brigitte Bordeaux or Julia Roberts. Meanwhile Khabensky's performance puts him on an equal footing with Marcello Mastroianni in the classic "Dolce Vita" film.

Apart from these movies, festival audiences could see a new film by Eldar Ryazanov called "Bedroom Key", Vitaly Melnikov's "Pavel, Poor Pavel", as well as Lydia Bobrova's "Granny".