MOSCOW — Pavel Lungin's "The Island" was blessed with all the top prizes at Russia's Nika awards — a feat it had also pulled off at the rival Golden Eagle awards in January.
The pic, about a Russian Orthodox monastery, won prizes for film, director, actor (Petr Mamonov), supporting actor (Viktor Sukhorukov), cinematography (Andrei Zhigalov, posthumously) and sound editing.
Industry vets gave warm praise to the Nikas, which was celebrating its 20th anni. Actor-director Andrei Smirnov, presenting Lungin with the director gong, remembered the Perestroika-born event as a "first sign of freedom in the country."
Back in those days, the awards were held at Moscow's House of Cinema, then run by Nika chief Yuly Gusman, who opened up the building's halls to a number of late-80s democratic political groupings.
That spirit of brotherhood is long gone, with Gusman fired from his House of Cinema role some years ago by director Nikita Mikhalkov, prexy of the Russian Filmmakers' Union and the Moscow Intl. Film Festival.
Although no one was voicing it too loudly, many in the Nika audience must have been wondering: Does Russia really need two national film awards? Many of the Nika academy voters — it has 643 — also judge the Eagles.
But that didn't stop the celebrations at Friday's event, which in typical Russian fashion ran for about four hours.
Vet Nika president, helmer Eldar Ryazanov, handed over the baton to vet thesp Alexei Batalov (star of 1958 Cannes winner "The Cranes Are Flying"). Ryazanov collected an honorary award, as well as costume and designer kudos for his latest film, "Andersen: A Life Without Love." Lifetime achievement honors went to animation maestro Fedor Khitruk.
Best actress went to Evgeniya Simonova for her role in Andrei Eshpai's "Ellipsis," which bowed at Locarno, with supporting actress going to Liya Akhedzhakova for her role in Kirill Serebryanikov's "Playing the Victim," a prize winner at Rome Film Fest.
The film's opening line — its slang phrasing translated politely — "Russian cinema is going nowhere," featured humorously in the Nika awards presentation.
As film functionary Mikhail Shvydkoi pointed out from the stage, that's clearly not the case — with more than 200 projects a year in development.
The revelation of the year award went to Ivan Vyrypayev for Venice-screener "Euphoria," and best animated work went to Alexander Petrov (winner of an Oscar for animated short in 2000 for "The Old Man and the Sea") for his latest pic "My Love."
Best film from the CIS and Baltic countries — the only award in which the Nikas actually differed from the Eagles — went to Ukrainian vet Kira Muratova for "Two in One," unreleased so far in its home territory but set to bow internationally at Tribeca.
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