Grand Prix at the Golden Prague Festival Awards

The Dying Swan: The Intimate Portrait of a Ballerina Dominates the Golden Prague Festival Awards.

Fear from retirement, health problems, a body that needs more and more time to regenerate: Zenaida Yanowsky, the former prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet, must cope with it. Making her the theme and star of an intimate portrait, British director Glen Milner dominated this year’s Golden Prague Awards.

In the film, we follow Zenaida Yanowsky planning to undergo knee surgery and regenerate her body enough to perform one of her most famous ballet solos: “The Dying Swan”. “Glen Milner is offering an exceptional insight into the ballerina‘s private world through his simple way of storytelling. ‘The Dying Swan’ is an intimate portrait of the artist at an emotionally demanding stage in her life. With expressive austerity, but at the same time in an extremely impressive way, the documentary presents a strong and moving story”, states the justification of the five-member jury headed by Swedish director Jonas Hermansson.

This film won in competition with another 86 films from 19 countries; it was produced in collaboration with London’s leading dance theatre Sadler’s Wells and has been aired by the BBC.