The Nika Award is an annual awards ceremony for the Russian film industry. It takes its name from Nike, the goddess of victory. Accordingly, the prize is modelled after the sculpture of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
The oldest film award in the USSR, the Nika Award was established by the Soviet Union of Cinematographists in 1988. At first the awards were judged by all the members of the Union and attracted huge publicity across the USSR.
In the early 1990s, a special academy was elected for distributing the awards. As the time went by, some prominent directors, led by Nikita Mikhalkov, alleged that the academy had become plagued by favoritism and cronyism and established the rival Golden Eagle Award instead. Soviet awards
- 1987 - Georgia's Tengiz Abuladze won Best Picture and Best Director for Repentance.
- 1988 - Russia's Aleksandr Proshkin won Best Picture for The Cold Summer of 1953, but other winners included films produced decades earlier and suppressed by Soviet censorship. For example, Alfred Schnittke won Best Music for the 1967 film Comissar, and Andron Konchalovsky was named Best Director for Asya Klyachina's Story, also filmed in 1967.
- 1989 - Armenia's Sergei Parajanov took the awards for Best Picture and Best Director for his "Ashik-Kerib".
- 1990 - Ukraine's Kira Muratova won Best Picture for The Asthenic Syndrome, while Stanislav Govorukhin was named Best Director for We Can't Live Like This. Innokenty Smoktunovsky took the award as Best Actor.
- 1991 - Eldar Ryazanov's The Promised Heaven triumphed at the last all-Soviet ceremony, taking the awards for Best Picture and Best Directing. Oleg Yankovsky and Inna Churikova were named Best Actor and Best Actress.
Russian awards
- 1992 - Pyotr Todorovsky, a veteran filmmaker, won Best Picture for Encore, Another Encore! Nikita Mikhalkov was named Best Director for Urga (Close to Eden).
- 1993 - Vladimir Khotinenko won Best Picture for Makarov.
- 1994 - Kira Muratova triumphed again, taking the awards for Best Picture and Best Directing for Passions. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Sergei Gerasimov's widow, Tamara Makarova.
- 1995 - Aleksandr Rogozhkin won Best Picture and Best Director for Pecularities of National Hunting.
- 1996 - Sergei Bodrov won Best Picture and Best Director for Prisoner of the Caucasus. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Georgy Zhzhonov.
- 1997 - Pavel Chukhrai won Best Picture and Best Director for The Thief. Marina Ladynina, a superstar of the Stalinist cinema, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 1998 - Aleksei Balabanov won Best Picture for Of Men and Freaks. Otar Ioseliani was named Best Director.
- 1999 - Aleksei German won Best Picture and Best Director for Khrustalev, My Car!. Mikhail Ulyanov was named Best Actor for The Voroshilov Sniper.
- 2000 - Aleksei Uchitel won Best Picture for His Wife's Diary. The Life Achievement Award was presented to Vyacheslav Tikhonov.
- 2001 - Alexander Sokurov won Best Picture and Best Director for Taurus. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Aleksei Batalov.
- 2002 - Aleksandr Rogozhkin again won Best Picture and Best Director for The Cuckoo. Oleg Yankovsky was again named Best Actor.
- 2003 - Andrey Zvyagintsev won Best Picture for Vozvrashcheniye. Vadim Abdrashitov was named Best Director, and Inna Churikova again won the award as Best Actress. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Pyotr Todorovsky.
- 2004 - Dmitry Meskhiev won Best Picture for Our Own, while Kira Muratova was named Best Director for The Tuner. Bogdan Stupka was named Best Actor, and Alla Demidova took the award as Best Actress. Eduard Artemyev was awarded for Best Music. The Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Vadim Yusov and Nonna Mordyukova.
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