"I think that the right choice was made this year," said Nikolai Lebedev, a member of the committee, "because it is important for us to understand the mechanisms guiding the American film academy in its decisions. They usually award commercially successful films, and not artistically prominent pictures. "Titanic," "Cabaret," and "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest" were above all a commercial success." Our films that received Oscars - "War and Peace," "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears," "Burnt by the Sun" - are first of all genre features. We have made an open attempt to gain an insight into the Oscar environment."
The selection of "Night Watch" was announced only a few days after the decision was made, with no information about the place, the day of the final session and the distribution of votes. According to the newspaper, some members of the committee were not even present at the session and heard the news, like the director, from the reporters.
According to the newspaper, the Russian box office hit, whose screening rights have been purchased by Hollywood, seems to stand high chances to be noticed by the American film academy.
