Baku, June 30, AZERTAC
More than 33,000 spectators visited the shows of the 39th Moscow International Film Festival that closed on Thursday, the president of the festival, the Russian film director and producer Nikita Mikhalkov told reporters, according to TASS.
He told a news briefing the festival program featured 406 full-length and short-length films from 64 countries this year.
"The main thing was the atmosphere, of course," Mikhalkov said. "The very opportunity to watch movies is much more important than an opportunity to sort out conflicts."
The Chinese film 'Crested Ibis' directed by Liang Qiao won the main prize of the festival, the Golden St George. The director said he hoped to use his victory as an opportunity to call the global audiences' attention to the problems of ecology.
'Opera', a French-Swiss co-production directed by Jean-Stephane Bron, won in the contest of documentaries. This humorous, inspiring and, at certain moments, cruel film about music and ballet explores the life and passions backstage one of the world's most prestigious theaters.
'Ambulance', a Norwegian film featuring a crew of emergency medics who come to face with Romanian immigrants while attending an emergency case.