Returen to A by Yegor Konchalovskiy nominated for Oscar

Filmmakers of the first Kazakhstan 3D-movie Return to A nominated the movie for the Oscar award, the movie producer Arman Assenov told Tengrinews.kz. The movie made by Yegor Konchalovsky was taken to the United States by American filmmakers who evaluated it during the Eurasia Film Festival in Almaty. Later the movie makers received a written confirmation that the application was received and the judges’ decision is awaited. One of the main conditions for the candidates is the movie's nationwide release at least 1 week before October 1. That’s what the filmmakers did. Return to A was released on September 20, right after the opening of the Eurasia Film Festival. In the first weekend the movie collected around 60 million tenge ($406 thousand). The project’s budget is estimated at $5 million. Besides, the candidate movie may not take part in any film competitions and international film festivals. “We purposefully refused several invitations. We were invited to Berlin, Venice, Tokyo. But we may be able to take part in Cairo festival to be held in the end of December. We will be able to take part in festivals by then,” Assenov said. “Honestly, I have an inside confidence, that we will receive an award, as the film is about the topic relevant for the whole world. The movie is about war, but it states that the war is bad. The movie is about war, but does not advocate the war,” the producer said. Only two Kazakhstan movies were nominated for Oscar so far: drama Kelin by Yermek Tursunov and Kazakh-Russian project Mongol by Sergei Bodrov. Candidates in 24 categories will be announced on January 24, 2012 and the award ceremony will be held on February 25 in Kodak theater in Los-Angeles. It is already known that Eddy Murphy will be hosting the 84th ceremony. By Aizhan Tugelbayeva