On Friday, a Mexican film won the top prize at the Moscow International Film Festival as major Western studios boycotted the Russian market and Russia's war in Ukraine entered its third year.
“Shame,'' a Mexican-Qatari co-production directed by Miguel Salgado, was the highest-winning film at the festival, which began in 1935 and has been held annually since 1999. More than 240 films from Mexico were screened this year. 56 countries.
In his victory speech, Salgado hailed the festival as one of the most important in the world, saying he was happy to see his film, a thriller, screened so widely and that it received so many awards. He added that it was a “great gift” for people to see it. He was impressed by it.
Festival program director Ivan Kudryavtsev told state news agency ITAR TASS that more than half of this year's entries come from countries whose governments are considered unfriendly to Russia. he said.
After Russia sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, major studios in the United States and many European countries stopped distributing films to Russia. This cancellation was a huge blow to Russian movie theaters. According to reports, before the conflict began, the country's movie theaters derived about 70% of their revenue from Hollywood films.
The festival's program includes “Hundreds of Beavers,'' billed as a paranormal story about 19th-century fur trappers and animal battles, and “Enter the Clones of Bruce,'' a postwar exploitation film. It included several small American films. Death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
Films from other countries opposed to the war in Ukraine include Romania, France, Italy and Germany.
The president of the jury for the Golden St. It is the only Icelandic film nominated for an award.