French Film and British Screenplay Win $16,000 at Kazakhstan’s Burabay Festival

A French animated film and a British screenplay have won grants worth a combined $16,000 at the fifth Burabay International Short Film Festival in northern Kazakhstan. The festival was held in Shchuchinsk from August 12 to 14, bringing together filmmakers and cultural figures from more than 20 countries, according to organizers. Founded by London-based Silk Road Media in partnership with the Eurasian Creative Guild, BISFF focuses on short films and screenplays, and this year introduced live pitching to the final stage of its competition. The Best Short Film award went to French filmmaker Erwan Le Gal for Hypatia of Alexandria: The Solitary Bee, a 13-minute animated film about the philosopher Hypatia, who was killed in Alexandria in 415. Le Gal received a $6,000 grant intended to promote the film through international screenings. British screenwriter Judson Vaughan won Best Screenplay for Kebam!, receiving a $10,000 production grant. Under the festival’s rules, the grant is intended to support the development of the screenplay into a film with a production team. The international jury included film and cultural professionals from Kazakhstan, the UK, Austria, Italy, and Russia. Luis Francisco Martínez Montes, Spain’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, served as an honorary jury member. Alongside the competition, the programme included outdoor screenings, an exhibition by the local Art Burabay group, and a workshop led by festival director Taina Kaunis. Burabay has hosted several international events organized by the Eurasian Creative Guild in recent years. In December 2025, The Times of Central Asia reported on a British-Kazakh cultural festival there that also incorporated the Burabay short film competition.