"BITTER HERB" WITH PRIZE IN MOSCOW
Maria Ornaf's film has already won another award this month. At the beginning of November, she received the award for the best female director at Almaty Indie Fest, and this time she was honored at the prestigious festival organized by Moscow's VGIK.
VGIK, or the All-Russian State University of Cinematography, is a legendary Moscow-based university that educated the most important Soviet and Russian filmmakers. To this day, it is considered one of the best places for film education. Since the 1980s, VGIK has been organizing a student film festival, awarding prizes in three competitions: films by students of its university, a foreign film competition and a theater competition.
Maria Ornaf's "Bitter Herb" was accepted for this second section, and in the end it won the Student award for the best film in the international competition. This year, the student film festival at VGIK was held entirely online.
When wanting to stop breastfeeding a child, a mother in the old times would rub wormwood ointment into her bosom. Upon tasting the bitterness, the child would never desire for the mother's milk again.