press release

"Persian Lessons" wins the main prize of the "Film by the Sea" festival in Vlissingen

Amsterdam, 21.9.2021 - The Russian-Belarusian-German co-production "Persian Lessons", which will be released in Dutch cinemas this autumn by Splendid Film B.V. won the Film and Literature Award of the International Film Festival "Film by the Sea" in Vlissingen, the most important award of the festival. The award ceremony took place last Saturday.

"Persian Lessons" is about the Antwerp Jew Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), who escapes imprisonment and death in a concentration camp in 1942 by pretending to be Persian and teaching a high-ranking Nazi leader in the language he himself does not speak. Instead, Gilles invents his own artificial language. The film was directed by Vadim Perelman. Other roles include German actors Lars Eidinger and Jonas Nay. The film is based on the story "The Invention of a Language" by Wolfgang Kohlhaase. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEFr_YOtv9g

The festival "Film by the Sea" was founded in 1999 in Vlissingen and honors international films of various genres. It is now one of the largest Dutch film festivals. https://www.filmbythesea.nl/