The director of the movie Emir Baigazin. Photo courtesy of Kazakhfilm Studios
Kazakhstan-made movie Harmony Lessons directed by Emir Baigazin won a Berlinale World Cinema Fund Prize, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Kazakhfilm press-service. The project was selected out of 122 applications from 43 countries and became the first Kazakhstan’s project to be supported by the Fund. Emir Baigazin, scriptwriter and director of the movie, is a participant of the Asian Film Academy (Busan International Film Festival) and Berlinale Talent Campus (International Berlinale Film Festival). His shorts won different prizes in International Film Festivals. Harmony Lessons project was presented in Locarno Open Doors Film Festival. The project won in Spotlight: New Kazakh Cinema in 2011 and was put into production in KazakhFilm Studios. Berlinale World Cinema Fund Award is not the first international award that was received by the movie. Harmony Lessons got the main prize of the Work-in-Progress program at the 18th International Sarajevo Film Festival when it was only at production stage. Post Republic company, a leader in German postproduction, undertook part of the movie's expenses at its cutting and editing stage and invited filmmaker Emir Baigazin and chief cameraman Aziz Zhambakiyev to continue their work in Berlin. Berlinale World Cinema Fund was established in 2004 by Berlinale Film Festival to support the films that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, that tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots. The Fund awards several projects that are in the stage of production with money prizes annually. The movies from all over the world that were awarded in famous International Film Festivals got the prizes over last years. They were Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul that got The Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 and The Milk of Sorrow by Claudia llosa that got The Golden Bear of the Berlinale Film Festival in 2009.
Kazakhstan-made movie Harmony Lessons directed by Emir Baigazin won a Berlinale World Cinema Fund Prize, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Kazakhfilm press-service.
The project was selected out of 122 applications from 43 countries and became the first Kazakhstan’s project to be supported by the Fund. Emir Baigazin, scriptwriter and director of the movie, is a participant of the Asian Film Academy (Busan International Film Festival) and Berlinale Talent Campus (International Berlinale Film Festival). His shorts won different prizes in International Film Festivals.
Harmony Lessons project was presented in Locarno Open Doors Film Festival. The project won in Spotlight: New Kazakh Cinema in 2011 and was put into production in KazakhFilm Studios.
Berlinale World Cinema Fund Award is not the first international award that was received by the movie. Harmony Lessons got the main prize of the Work-in-Progress program at the 18th International Sarajevo Film Festival when it was only at production stage. Post Republic company, a leader in German postproduction, undertook part of the movie's expenses at its cutting and editing stage and invited filmmaker Emir Baigazin and chief cameraman Aziz Zhambakiyev to continue their work in Berlin.
Berlinale World Cinema Fund was established in 2004 by Berlinale Film Festival to support the films that stand out with an unconventional aesthetic approach, that tell powerful stories and transmit an authentic image of their cultural roots. The Fund awards several projects that are in the stage of production with money prizes annually. The movies from all over the world that were awarded in famous International Film Festivals got the prizes over last years. They were Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul that got The Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 and The Milk of Sorrow by Claudia llosa that got The Golden Bear of the Berlinale Film Festival in 2009.