Odesa film prize and Tajik border drills, July 2018
A look back at two items from the days around 23 July 2018, one cultural and one military.
What was happening in the world around 23 July 2018? Two reports from the preceding days point in very different directions.
On 21 July 2018, the Grand Prix of the Odesa International Film Festival went to Crystal, a film directed by Daria Zhuk. The award was reported as the festival's top prize.
A few days earlier, on 17 July 2018, Russia and Tajikistan began joint military exercises near the Afghan–Tajik border. As reported at the time, the drills were meant to deter potential Taliban attacks.
The two reports share little beyond the calendar: one concerns a film prize in a Ukrainian port city, the other a security exercise on a frontier in Central Asia. Taken together, they show the range of what was in the news in the days leading up to 23 July 2018.
