The Golden Eagle Award Ceremony, a kind of the Russian Oscars, has seen Yelena by Andrei Zvyagintsev taking four awards, including the Best Picture.

      Out of 8 nominations in total, Yelena - which has had unprecedented success for a Russian film in a very long time - has taken four Eagles: Best Picture, Best Director (Andrei Zvyagintsev), Best Supporting Actress (Yelena Lyadova), and Best Camerawork (Mikhail Krichman).

      A mini-series Dostoyevsky, starring Yevgeni Mironov, has taken awards in Best TV Mini Series, Best TV Actor (Yevgeni Mironov), and Best TV Actress (Valentina Talyzina).

      A screen adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, filmed by Yuri Kara in 1993 and finally released in 2011, has been awarded Golden Eagles for Best Art Direction (Yuri Ustinov and Boris Kuzovkin) and Best Costume Design (Lyudmila Chekulaeva, Anna Kuznetsova, Olga Polyanskaya, Nina Korotkikh). One of the much-loved Russian actors, Valentin Gaft who played the part of Woland in the film was awarded a Special Award for Contribution to Cinema.

      A film Two Days by Avdotya Smirnova (who recently married the Russian privatisation figurehead Anatoly Chubais) has received awards for the Best Actor and Actress (Fyodor Bondarchuk and Ksenia Rappoport, respectively).

      A special nomination at the ceremony also celebrated a foreign film that proved popular with the Russian box-office. This year it was A King's Speech by Tom Hooper.

      Source: Ruskino. Image courtesy: AiF.ru.