LOS ANGELES (11/21/2015) – According to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), Ella Manzheeva’s film “The Gulls” will try to get the Golden Globe. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture. Among the pretenders to the Golden Globe there are 72 films from Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Mexico, Argentina, China and other countries. The Gulls is the only Russian picture that would compete for the prestigious award .
The film will be officially shown to the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the judges who award the Golden Globe, on November 23rd, 4 p. m., in the Dick Clark screening room in Santa Monica (USA). The list of nominated films will be announced on December 10th.
The world premiere of the film took place in the International Berlin Film Festival as a part of Forum Program. After Berlin Film Festival, the film took the award “For the Best Début” at Kinotavr-2015 and travelled to the prestigious international film festivals in Edinburg, Karlovy Vary, Haifa, Vienna, Warsaw and many others. In October 2015, The Gulls was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Australia), unofficially known as “the Asiatic Oscar”. It was nominated in two categories: Best Actress (Yevgeniya Mandzhieva) and Special UNESCO Prize for an outstanding contribution to the promotion and conservation of cultural diversity by means of cinema. The film was also selected to participate in the competition program of the AFI FEST (the Festival of the American Film Institute), held annually in Los Angeles, one of the most respected in the United States.
Yelena Glikman, producer of the film, Telesto Film Company: “The Gulls, after starting with a world premiere at Berlinale and becoming the Best Début of the Kinotavr, made a breathtaking tour of Russian and international film festivals. Now the film will also compete for the Golden Globe, making us especially proud. We appreciate any possibility to bring the film to the greatest possible number of spectators. As a producer, I also greatly hope that our participation in competition for this prize will boost the international sales of the film. We hope that Berlinale (followed by numerous positive reviews in foreign mass media), together with the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the participation of The Gulls in AFI FEST will make the film visible for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. We look forward to November 23rd and hope to be able to share good news with you again”.
Sergey Rakhlin, President of the Foreign Cinema Commission of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Golden Globe Award: “This year, Russia is represented by The Gulls, a Kalmyk-language film. For the first time in the history of our award it reflects the fact that Russia is a multinational country and the art of Russia is very diverse. The participation of any film in the Golden Globe award competition gives its creators a unique possibility to present their picture in Hollywood. The very fact that the film was selected for a prestigious competition increases its marketing potential in the world film market. We should not believe that films with ethnic specificity would not be understood by the world public including journalists from tens of countries that participate in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Especially as we value the films not for the language of their characters but for the artistic qualities of the films”.
The presentation of the 73rd annual Golden Globe Award will take place on January 10th, 2016, in Los Angeles, USA.