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Burnt by the Sun got the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1995.

When the award was announced, a man tossed a young girl over his shoulder and strode triumphantly to the podium.

Not yet having seen the movie, I found this celebratory movement somewhat inappropriate — a doting Russian father sharing his moment of Hollywood triumph with his little daughter.

But once you have seen Burnt by the Sun you will recognise that there could have been no more proper gesture.

The film is about life during Stalin's reign of terror; but at its bitter-sweet, sentimental heart it is about that father and his daughter and their special love for each other.

The father — well-known Russian film-maker Nikita Mikhalkov — wrote, directed, and had the principal role of Colonel Kotov in Burnt by the Sun.

And Mikhalkov's co-star and the inspiration for the film is his daughter Nadia.

He explains: "I decided to play this role for the unique reason of helping the performance of my daughter, Nadia ... certain scenes being especially delicate on an emotional level." In several such scenes, father and daughter express and emphasise their love for each other.

Mikhalkov also made his daughter comfortable by calling her by her real name in the film, and Mikhalkov says: "I made this film very quickly because I wanted my six-year-old daughter to play the role.

Children grow quickly and lose the tenderness, the simplicity, and the charm their youth carries."