Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Russian athlete turned MP Svetlana Horkina: two-time Olympic Champion, three-time absolute European & three-time absolute World Champion in gymnastics. Since December 2007, Svetlana is a Russian MP – State Duma deputy, overseeing youth affairs.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

To the amusement of the crowd, Russian tenor singer and TV celebrity Nikolay Baskov forced by a sudden downpour of rain to run to shelter along the empty carpet .

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Jury Chairman, norwegian actress Liv Ullmann (left) observing the symbol of her Festival Jury Chairmanship – a precious chain with the image of St George. In a few minutes she would have to return it to the Festival organizers.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Hengameh Ghaziani, actress from Iran, played the main part in award-winning “As Simple As That” (“Be Hamin Sadegi”).

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Nikita Mikhalkov, President of the Moscow International Film Festival, enjoying the show. He told the gathering that over the 10 days of the Festival, some 300 films from 45 countries were screened by some 100.000 viewers.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Main Competition Jury of the Moscow International Film Festival (left to right): Irina Rozanova (Russia), Michael Glawogger (Austria), Derek Malcolm (United Kingdom), Sebastian Alarcon (Chile), Liv Ullmann (Norway).

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Winner of Best Director Award, 36-year-old Bulgarian Javor Gardev could hardly hide his emotions after receiving the prize for “Zift”, an original black-and-white mix of neo-noir and criminal farce comedy.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

French actress Isabelle Huppert receives the “I Belive” Stanislavsky Special Prize from the 30th Moscow International Film Festival for her outstanding film career achievements.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Aleksandr Zhukov, deputy Prime Minister in the Russian Government, receivs an unofficial “Clapper” prize – “For Best Director of performance at Euro-2008”. The souvenir prize is to be handed over to Guus Hiddink, coach of Russian national football team, for reaching Euro-2008 semi-finals.

Photo and caption by Ivan Podakin, RT

Reza Mirkarimi, 41-year-old Director from Iran, the proud winner of Best Picture Award for “As Simple As That” (“Be Hamin Sadegi”), a drama about the hidden world of personal emotions and ideas of a housewife. In Moscow, the film received its first international prize.

29.06.2008, 23:22 Iranian movie grabs first prize in Moscow The winners of this year’s Moscow Film Festival have been announced at a ceremony at the Pushkin Cinema. A domestic drama from Iran scooped the top prize,The Golden George, for the best film.

30.06.2008, 04:08 6 comments Meteorite mystery puzzles scientists 100 years on A century ago 2,000 square kilometres of Siberian forest were flattened in an apparent explosion. The event has puzzled scientists ever since and, although theories abound as to the cause of the blast, nobody has managed to find out exactly why 80 million