UPDATE - Serebrennikov Wins Russia's Best Director Golden Mask Award

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2019) Russia's celebrated theater director Kirill Serebrennikov was awarded the Best Director Golden Mask award for staging Little Tragedies performance, at a ceremony in Moscow on Tuesday.

"There were so many worthy directors ... I hope you awarded me because you liked the play," Serebrennikov told the audience.

Ballet Nureyev, a biographical show about ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, staged by Moscow's Bolshoi Theater and directed by Serebrennikov, received the Best Production Golden Mask award.

"We are grateful to the theater, where it is possible to stage such a great show.

Thank you. We had an amazing team, they are all geniuses," Serebrennikov said.�

A Moscow court released Serebrennikov from house arrest last week, more than 1.5 years after he was arrested on charges of embezzling 133 million rubles ($2 million) in state funds invested in an art project he ran with two co-defendants.

The 25th edition of this prestigious national theater awards ceremony was held at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The Golden Mask awards theatrical productions and professionals in all genres of theater art: drama, opera, ballet, modern dance, operetta, musical and puppet theater.