During his third year at the VGIK, Tarkovsky met Andrei Konchalovsky. They found much in common as they liked the same film directors and shared ideas on cinema and films. In 1959 they wrote the script "Antarctica – Distant Country", which was later published in the "Moskovsky Komsomolets". Tarkovsky submitted the script to Lenfilm, but it was rejected. They were more successful with the script "The Steamroller and the Violin", which they sold to Mosfilm. This became Tarkovsky's graduation project, earning him his diploma in 1960 and winning First Prize at the New York Student Film Festival in 1961.