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Last year's festival favorite The Geographer Drank His Globe Away from from director Aleksandr Veledinskiy was the big winner at this year's Russian Film Academy Awards, winning best film, best director and honors for best actor and actress, respectively, for stars Konstantin Khabensky and Yelena Lyadova. The drama about the life of a provincial high school teacher (Khabensky), also won best score for composer Alexei Zubarev at Russia's equivalent to the Oscars, called the Nikas. The Geographer has been a favorite on the festival circuit, taking top honors at Russia's Kinotavr festival last summer. It has done less well at

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★★★☆☆Winner of the Grand Prix prize at this year's Kinotavr Film Festival, Aleksandr Veledinskiy's The Geographer Drank His Globe Away (2013) stars Konstantin Khabenskiy (most familiar to UK audiences for his lead role in Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch) and is based on the eponymous novel by Alexander Ivanovo. A tragically comedic investigation into Russia's ideological shift from the socialist-realist notion of 'the great family', it chronicles the endeavours of washed-up biologist Viktor Sluzhin (Khabenskiy), a drunken loser seemingly devoid of courage, fortitude and nobility - the antithesis of the anti-hero.