The film of the Russian director Kira Kovalenko “Unclenching the Fists” was accepted for the competition for the ‘Oscar’ Academy Award of Merit in the category “Best International Feature Film”. In total, projects from 93 countries are represented in this category.
Films with more than 40 minutes of screen time produced outside the US and more than 50 per cent of the dialogue text in which is not in English can claim to win in this nomination. As did the film “Unclenching the Fists”, which is the second directorial work of Kovalenko. This work was presented at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix for the first time in Russia in the “Un Certain Regard” category.
The film tells a story about a small North Ossetian mining town of Mizur sandwiched between steep cliffs. Zaur moved his family here after the tragic events. He brings up his sons and daughter strictly, without a clear understanding of the boundaries between paternal care and overprotection.
His eldest son has already fled to the nearest large city, Rostov, to work. The youngest one has not yet fully realized what he wants from life. The daughter is actively making escape plans. She is already an adult but her father still sees her as a small defenceless child. For her, it turns out to be more difficult than it seemed to open the strong fatherly embrace in order to finally start an independent life.
According to the Academy’s schedule, the list of 15 Oscar contenders in this category will be announced on December 21, and the award nominees will be named on February 8, 2022. The 94th award ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022.
Currently, on the Kinopoisk website, the film has a rating of almost 7 points (6.936) from viewers and 88 per cent from the film critics both in Russia and abroad.
Ru-Main, 07.12.2021
Source: RIA Novosti
