"LEVIATHAN"

One of the most successful films in Russian cinematography, "Leviathan" was first released in Cannas on 23 May 2014. In Russia, however, the movie is going to be released on 5th February. Undoubtedly, this particular movie is worth to talk about, as it had won a lot of awards in many ceremonies. 

Andrey Zvyagintsev, the director, is known as one of Russia’s leading filmmakers, but his latest movie, “Leviathan,” has been especially successful. Prior to its nomination for the Academy Award, it won Best Screenplay at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Best Film at the London Film Festival, a Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film (the first Russian movie to win since 1969), and a few other awards.

List of Awards and Nominations

Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
2014 Cannes Film Festival	Best Screenplay	Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin	Won
	Palme d'Or	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Nominated
45th International Film Festival of India	Golden Peacock	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Won
International Art Festival of Cinematography	Best Cinematographer	Mikhail Krichman	Won
58th London Film Festival	Best Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev and Alexander Rodnyansky	Won
68th British Academy Film Awards	Best Film Not in the English Language	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Pending
32nd Munich Film Festival	Best Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev and Alexander Rodnyansky	Won
8th Abu Dhabi Film Festival	Best Narrative Best Actor	Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexey Serebryakov	Won
Palm Springs International Film Festival	Best Foreign Language Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Won
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	Best Feature Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Won
72nd Golden Globe Awards	Best Foreign Language Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev and Alexander Rodnyansky	Won
13th Golden Eagle Award	Best Direction Best Leading Actress Best Film Editing Best Supporting Actor	Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena Lyadova, Anna Mann and Roman Madyanov Jr.	Won
87th Academy Awards	Best Foreign Language Film	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Pending

Critics noted that the film’s corrupt officials work beneath pictures of Putin, and called “Leviathan” an “unremittingly poisonous portrait of the abuse of power in contemporary Russia.” However, the film faced other critiques. Sergey Markov, a political analyst and a Kremlin loyalist who has held several official positions, called it “an ideological justification for a genocide of the Russian people” and said that Zvyagintsev should block the release of his film in Russia and instead kneel in the Red Square and apologize to his compatriots.

Although 35% of Leviathan’s funding came from Russia’s Ministry of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, Minister of Culture, acknowledged that the film showed talented moviemaking but said he does not like it. He sharply criticised its portrayal of ordinary Russians as vodka drinking and bribe taking which he does not recognise from his experience. He thought it strange that there is not a single positive character in the movie, implying that the director was not fond of Russians but rather “fame, red carpets and statuettes."