United States Agency for Global Media

“Airport Donetsk” wins prestigious Russian documentary film prize

December 18, 2015

Prague, Czech Republic — An unflinching portrait of one of the epic battles in the war between Russia and Ukraine has been named the Best Non-Fiction Short TV Film in Russia’s prestigious ArtDocFest film festival, and brought new recognition to Current Time’s intrepid journalistic team.

“Airport Donetsk,” conceived by Shahida Tulaganova and directed by Andrey Erastov, traces the contours of the 200-day fight for the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Raw footage and deeply personal interviews portray the last days of the battle as the airport falls to the separatists. The film features the testimony of commanders and fighters on both sides, and is told in their words.

In awarding the prize, ArtDocFest Director Vitaliy Manskii said “Airport Donetsk” was one of the most emotionally strong films of this year. The film’s Executive Editor, Kenan Aliyev, described it as “a raw portrait of war…that will challenge audiences on both sides of the battlefield.” Vice News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky called it “a microcosm of the war that anyone wanting to understand the tragedy of Ukraine should watch.”

ArtDocFest, the Open Russian Documentary Film Festival that launched in Moscow in 2007, is the largest international gathering of Russian-language documentary films, attracting approximately 20,000 filmgoers, filmmakers, and guests annually.  The Festival’s Laurel Branch prizes in the field of documentary film and television are awarded in nine categories.

“Airport Donetsk” is a production of Current Time TV.

 

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