Kazakhstan's Samal Yeslyamova wins Cannes Best Actress Award

As a leading actress of "Ayka" (My Little One), a film by Russian filmmaker Sergey Dvortsevoy, Samal Yeslyamova has been recognized as the best actress of the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

The actress thanked director Sergey Dvortsevoy because it was the role in "Ayka" that brought the award to her.

The plot of the film is the story of a young immigrant from Kyrgyzstan who illegally works in Moscow. It tells about her personal growth and drastic life changes.

Samal Yeslyamova was born on September 1, 1984, in Petropavlovsk, North Kazakhstan. She graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in 2011.

She is also known for "Tulpan" (Tulip) that won such awards as the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, and Best Feature Film at the 2008 Montreal Festival of New Cinema, to name a few.