First Eurasian Creative Guild (ECG) Film Festival was held in London as part of the British Romford Film Festival on 6-10 June.

Founded in 2017 by British film makers and enthusiasts, the Romford Film Festival this year teamed up with the Eurasian Creative Guild (London), which has created a unique platform for communication between British filmmakers and their post-Soviet counterparts, the official website of the festival reported.

Despite its infancy, the ECG Film Festival gathered over 60 films from 24 countries. The event kicked off with the British premiere of “My Name is Kozha” (1964) directed by Kazakh filmmaker Abdulla Karsakbayev.

During its five days, the film festival had over 1,500 attendees and screened films from diverse locations such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Italy, Finland, US, Belarus, Sweden, Germany, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Canada and the UK.

Guests of the festival also had a unique opportunity to learn about the Eurasian region, not only through cinema, but also through exhibitions of paintings, handicrafts and books created by members of the Eurasian Creative Guild. Two Silk Road Fashion shows, networking round table events and creative meetings were also held within the framework of the Eurasian Film Festival. 

On the final day of the festival, the award ceremony was orchestrated to adorne the most talented filmmakers for their efforts.

A trailer for “Three Distichus”, a book by Armenian writer Elena Aslanyan was named the best book trailer of the festival. Boris Hayrapetyan won the best short film director award for his film "Yes! Today", while Mher Mkrtchyan's “Ludwig the Hedgehog” picked up the audience choice award in the Best Cast category.