Wheels rolls away with Sochi grand prize

Serbian comedy Wheels, written and directed by newcomer Djordje Milosavljevic, won the grand prize at this year's Sochi International Film Festival, which took place in Sochi, Russia from June 7-17.

The international jury, chaired by veteran Indian director Mrinal Sen, also awarded its special prize to Can Togay's A Winter In The Back Of Beyond, a co-production between Hungary and France.

The festival, which screened 18 features in competition, was running side-by-side, in the same Sochi hotel, as the 11th Open Russian Film Festival and was somewhat overshadowed by the national event. The international screenings took place in half-empty cinemas but press conferences were well attended.

Bakhtier Khudoinazarov's Luna Papa picked up the Golden Rose at the Russian Film Festival while Alexei Uchitel's His Wife's Diary was awarded the grand prix and Alexander Proshkin's The Captain's Daughter won the special jury prize.

The full list of winners includes:

Grand prize:
Wheels
(dir: Djordje Milosavljevic, Serbia)

Jury special prize:
A Winter In The Back Of Beyond
(dir: Can Togay, Hungary-France)

Best male role:
Frank Giering, Florian Lukas and Antoine Monot
Absolute Giganten
(dir: Sebastian Schipper, Germany)

Best female performance (awarded jointly to):
Tinna Gunnlaugsdottir
Honour Of The House (Ungfruin Goda Og Husid)
(dir: Gudny Halldorsdottir, Iceland-Sweden-Denmark-Norway)

Iva Janzurova
Ene Bene
(dir: Alice Nellis, Czech Republic)

FIPRESCI Prize:
Geography Of Fear
(dir: Auli Mantila, Finland)

Golden Rose:
Luna Papa
(dir: Bakhtier Khudoinazarov)

Grand Prix:
His Wife's Diary
(dir: Alexei Uchitel)

Special Jury Prize:
The Captain's Daughter
(dir: Alexander Proshkin)

Best female role:
Swetlana Smirnova
Fourteen Colours Of The Rainbow
(dir: Dmitry Svetozarov)

Best male role:
Sergey Makovetskiy
The Captain's Daughter
(dir: Alexander Proshkin)

The Mikael Taryverdiev prize for the best music:
Vladimir Martynov
The Captain's Daughter
(dir: Alexander Proshkin)

"Kinotavr" Film Festival Presidential Council Prize:
Fortuna
(dir: Georgy Danelia)

Best fiction debut:
Might As Well Live
(dir: Elena Lanskaya)

Best documentary debut:
Socrates Said
(dir: Andrey Murashov)

Best animation debut:
Autumn Has Come
(dir: Ekaterina Sokolova)

FIPRESCI prize:
Demobbed
(dir: Roman Kachanov)