Film director, native of Kabardino-Balkaria Kantemir Balagov won the Chanel Next Prize. The amount of the cash prize, which is issued by the cultural fund created by the Chanel fashion house, is 100 thousand euros for the implementation of “ambitious artistic projects.”

“Cinema for me is what fills my life with meaning and hope. Therefore, it is a great honor for me to be recognized by Chanel - after all, this is a brand that always puts artists first,” commented Balagov.

The director’s debut film, “Tightness,” won the FIPRESCI prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. Kantemir Balagov’s next film, “Dylda,” was awarded the main prize in the “Un Certain Regard” category at Cannes in 2019.

Kantemir Balagov is a student of the famous Russian director and screenwriter Alexander Sokurov, a graduate of his workshop at Kabardino-Balkarian University. After the start of the SVO, Balagov supported Ukraine and left Russia. In April 2023, he announced that he was retiring from acting and deleted his social media accounts.

Later, film producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who also left the Russian Federation, reported that Balagov was in the USA, where he wrote the script in English and plans to start filming a new film.