Leviathan wins big at Russian film awards

Oscar-nominated Russian drama Leviathan has been given a major boost ahead of the Academy Awards next month (Feb15) after scoring four top prizes at the country’s most prestigious movie industry prizegiving. Leviathan, which is to compete for the Best Foreign Film prize at the Oscars, landed four trophies at Russia’s Golden Eagle Awards on Sunday (25Jan15), including best screenplay, best supporting actor for Roman Madyanov, and best supporting actress for Elena Lyadova.
The haul of four has given Leviathan’s director Andrey Zvyagintsev hope ahead of the upcoming Academy Awards even though the Golden Eagles’ top honour, the coveted Best Picture prize, went to rival film Sunstroke.
Zvyagintsev is quoted by The St. Petersburg Times as saying, “It is recognition and that’s all. Which prize is more important doesn’t matter.”
Leviathan, which is loosely based on a Bible story, is to compete against films from countries including Estonia, Poland and Argentina at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on 22 February (15).