Eurasian Cinema Academy award screenings to begin in China

The Diamond Butterfly is billed as an alternative to mainstream Western film awards, placing emphasis on traditional values

Beijing is gearing up for the Eurasian Cinema Academy award screenings, which will showcase six feature-length films that garnered the Diamond Butterfly in various categories at the inaugural ceremony in Moscow last year.

Touted by the organizers as an alternative to mainstream ‘woke’ Western film awards, the event promotes works that reflect both “national” and “universal spiritual and moral values” under the motto: “Any truth without love is a lie.”

Renowned Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov played a seminal role in the creation of the Eurasian Cinema Academy and the Diamond Butterfly award with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry and Foreign Ministry.

The screenings are scheduled to run August 28 through August 30 at the Art-House Cinema of the China Film Art Research Center in Beijing.

The program will open with the film ‘Two People in One Life and a Dog’ by Russia’s Andrey Zaitsev, which tells the story of a married couple that lived through the Great Patriotic War as children. Despite many hardships, the protagonists retain optimism, patience, and forgiveness. The work received Best Actress and Best Actor awards last November.

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The following day, the 'Erl-King' by Serbia’s Goran Radovanovic, who received the Best Director award in 2025, will be screened. The film depicts the life of an eight-year-old boy and his mother during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Also next Saturday, audiences in the Chinese capital will get the chance to watch the Russian-Belarussian film ‘Dark Castle’ – a historical adventure movie, whose score was awarded with the Diamond Butterfly.

Wrapping the day up will be ‘Old Righteous Blues’ – a South African drama by Muneera Sallies, which was recognized by the Eurasian Cinema Academy jury for its screenplay.

The program of the final day will include ‘Upstream’ by China’s Xu Zheng, who won the award for best picture last year for the depiction of the trials and tribulations faced by a delivery driver.

Finally, ‘Ali Primera’, a biopic by Venezuela’s Daniel Yegres, will be screened. The film that won Best Non-Eurasian Film award tells the story of the popular singer-songwriter.

The first award ceremony took place on November 27, 2025 in Moscow, with the jury reviewing a total of 34 films representing 17 countries. Aside from the Diamond Butterfly statuette adorned with nearly 5,000 lab-grown diamonds, the Best Picture Award winner, Xu Zheng, was also presented with a ten-carat Yakut diamond worth the equivalent of $1 million. The winners in the other 11 categories received five-carat diamonds valued at $250,000, in addition to the statuettes.

In June, the organizers announced the start of the selection process for this year’s Diamond Butterfly, with the award ceremony scheduled to take place in Moscow on November 12.