Spectators of "Kunaki" Festival interested in film about Magomed Shamilov

On November 19, the city of Sukhumi launched the Film Festival named "Kunaki" (Friends), which is intended to help Caucasian filmmakers to reach the world level and revive the cinema in the region.

In his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Ilyas Bogatyryov, the festival director, complained that "there are few films on Caucasian topics at the festival." "Ideally, we'd like to see at least 30% of Caucasian films in the contest programme. So far, we have few such films, but the number grows every year," said Mr Bogatyryov.

In particular, he noted the work of Matvey Kakovkin, a young Moscow director, named "Modern Idiot from Don Quixote Kin". The film narrates the story of Captain Magomed Shamilov, said Mr Kakovkin, explaining that Shamilov is a "fighter for justice from a mountain village of Machada (Dagestan), who was dismissed from militia many years ago."

"The hero – Magomed Shamilov – is a friend of our family. Once he called us and said that somebody wanted to kill him. We tried to help; and made the film. The problem seemed to disappear, but after the film was screened at one of Dagestani TV channels, Magomed Shamilov's sons were beaten up, so, it's very difficult to be a fighter for justice in the Caucasus," Matvey Kakovkin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.