‘Elif Ana’ honored in Russian film festival

Turkish directors Kazım Öz and Semir Aslanyürek's film "Elif Ana" (Mother Elif) has become the winner of the special jury prize and the special organizing committee award at the 32nd International Golden Knight Film Festival in Grozny, Russia.

The festival is one that is organized in different cities every year, running for 32 years. After eight days of the event, the jury, under the chairmanship the Russian theater and film director Andrei Konchalovsky and consisted of Mikhail Galubowich (Russia), Vladimir Gostukhin (Belarus), Anjel Gutyerres (Spain), Jovan Markovic (Serbia) and Margarit Nikolov (Bulgaria), awarded the special jury prize to "Elif Ana" among the 20 films that joined in the competition this year.

"Elif Ana" tells the true story of Elif, the sacred mother of Anatolia, known for her wisdom and values of love, peace, equality, sharing, tolerance and compassion. While watching the story of Elif from her childhood until her death, the audience also witnesses the political panorama of Türkiye.

The main cast of the film includes Aliye Uzunatağan, Ali Sürmeli, Hülya Diken, Necmettin Çobanoğlu, İlyas Salman, Levent Üzümcü and Sadık Gürbüz.

Filmed in earthquake-ravaged Turkish cities before the disaster in February, "Elif Ana" was released last winter and is expected to be screened again in the fall.