A film by Irek Ibatulin, Novosibirsk film producer and graduate of the NSU Journalism Department, and his group Irek.Pro won a silver medal at the New York Festivals World's Best TV & Films television festival. New York Festivals World's Best TV & Films is one of the world's largest festivals for journalism, film and advertising. The winners were announced on April 25 in Las Vegas. The Festival presented films produced by crews from 50 countries.
Irek Ibatulin and his team, which includes two other graduates of the NSU Journalism Department Anna Abotina and Vladimir Porhunov, were awarded a silver medal in the category "Corporate Social Responsibility". Their film about children with visual impairments, "Easy to Hear", was produced for a MegaFon project. Irek Ibatulin described the film-making process, “Prior to this, neither my team or I have ever communicated with children who cannot see the world the way we see it. The more we immersed ourselves in the shooting of the film, the more we learned about blind children, how they live, what they do for fun, what they love, what worries them… ". The film was initially released in Russian, but Irek.Pro made an English language version specifically for the US festival.
