MOSCOW, April 19, Svetlana Vovk.More than 230 films will be presented at the Moscow International Film Festival, which opens today. The stars will traditionally walk along the red carpet, and then — until April 26 — viewers will watch and the jury will evaluate ten competitive projects. The chairman of the MIFF selection committee, Ivan Kudryavtsev, spoke in an interview about which films not to miss and how the difficult political situation affected the program of one of the oldest screenings in the world.
— At the press conference for the opening of the festival, you noted that this year’s program was strong. And this despite the difficult political situation, which, unfortunately, also affects cultural exchanges. There is a lot of Russophobia in the world now. Did this affect the international component of the MIFF?
— Cinema has always been, is and will be the most important way of preserving and disseminating culture. And at the international level — a force that brings people together. Now the political situation is truly difficult, but Russian filmmakers still continue to cooperate with foreign ones. Thus, at the MIFF, some films were shot in cooperation between Russia and other states. Among them, for example, are India (“We must make films about love”), Argentina (“Nevada”), Finland (“Where is my home?”), Moldova and Romania (“Survive in Mo…”). Cinema is fighting for the right to be an art that is not influenced by politics. Proof of this is the countries that participate in the MIFF, nominating their own films. These are Spain and France, Mexico and China, Türkiye and Australia and others.
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— There are ten paintings in the competition program. What were the main selection criteria for the experts? What themes are addressed in these films?
— The criteria are simple: high artistic value, exciting plot, bright author's insights, boldness of experiment. Thematically, the competition films turned out to be very important and memorable. Looking at films, one can trace the theme of grief and guilt: under the yoke of these feelings, the characters either break down or are reborn. This leitmotif is present in the films “Between a Dog and a Wolf”, “Breath of Cold”, “Shame”, “Shlimazzle”. An important line is hope and gaining faith in oneself: in the films “Nirvana”, “Survive in Mo…” and “Alien”. In them, the heroes need to firmly stand their ground and not give up in order to reach the desired outcome. The films “21 Rubies” and “The Tsar of the Forest” discuss the theme of a person faced with the dark side of politics. The main character of «The Forest King» is a Serbian boy, whose world instantly changes after the bombing of Yugoslavia begins. And the heroine of “21 Rubies,” preparing for a promotion, discovers that she has become a pawn in a dirty game for control over her country.
— Now the films that are released in our country should not contain scenes promoting LGBT*, excessive cruelty. Overly explicit episodes and obscene language are also unacceptable.
— The selection committee works in strict accordance with the legislation in force in our country. Here we do not deviate one iota from the requirements of the letter and spirit of the law.
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— MIFF is one of the oldest festivals in the world. On the review’s website, the historical information speaks quite self-critically about the different periods of its existence, including censorship in the 70s and 80s. What would you say about the festival today, how authoritative is it in the world, what might it be missing?
— The festival has been and remains an event thanks to which people can see wonderful films that are not widely released. As a rule, debutants also participate in the competition, which allows them to listen to criticism and praise, appear to the viewer, and become recognizable. MIFF remains authoritative at the global level: proof of this is the participation of films from 56 different countries. Moreover, almost half of the represented states are those whose regimes pursue an unfriendly policy towards Russia. The determination of filmmakers from these countries to personally bring (or at least send) their films to Moscow certainly admires us. The main new trend in the development of the MIFF is a turn towards young spectators, the emergence of special student accreditation. As a result, the profile of our audience has visibly become younger.
— Will they be presenting an honorary prize to outstanding masters of acting this year?
— Yes, of course, this is one of the glorious traditions of the festival. Over the years, awards have been awarded to both Russian and foreign masters — Inna Churikova, Konstantin Khabensky, Jack Nicholson, Ralph Fiennes and many, many others.
— What retrospectives will there be?
< br /> — This year’s retrospective program is extremely rich: you will be able to see both beloved classics and films or episodes that were once banned, no longer available for viewing, or simply important for cinema.
The category «Screen Wars. Episode I. Movement. A New Hope» will tell about the films from which cinema was born and thanks to which cinema developed: the viewer will be shown «The Arrival of a Train at the Station of La Ciotat», «The Watered Waterman» and other films by the Lumiere brothers, pioneers in cinema, “The Woman” by the famous Charlie Chaplin, as well as “Strike”, the first full-length film by the great Sergei Eisenstein. It will be possible to watch Gaidai and Balabanov.
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The program «Dariush Mehrjui: Poetry of Real Life» will offer viewers the works of the Iranian classic and innovator Dariush Mehrjui is the most striking phenomenon of Iranian cinema. Among the paintings are “Leila”, “Cow” and others.
«First versions. From the archives of the Gosfilmofond» — original versions of Soviet films that cannot be found or watched anywhere: for example, viewers will be able to see «A Tight Knot» by Mikhail Schweitzer, where Oleg Tabakov played his debut role.
In the program «VGIK: Stars» are lit in Moscow» you will be able to watch films from foreign students of VGIK who have made a significant contribution to the development of their national cinematographs: among the films there is «The Graduate Student» by Suleiman Cissé, «Sociability» by Jafar Tavakkol and others.
“From VGIK to Mosfilm” is a category dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Mosfilm studio. Film works by VGIK graduates who have become significant personalities of the film studio are collected here. Viewers will see “Darling Girlfriends” by Litus, Gaidai and Akopyan, “Man and Woman” by Surin.
The program “VGIK: Premonition of a Genius” presents graduates of the university of the same name who made feature and non-fiction films with the support of some other studios: here are Valentin Morozov, Anton Vasiliev, Marina Kazankina, Stanislav Rostotsky, Nadezhda Khvorova.
— The closing film will be a new part of the film adaptation of the comics “Major Thunder: The Game.” Will fans of the project be disappointed? What can they expect from the film?
— “Major Thunder” and the Bubble cinematic universe continue to evolve. Fans should definitely expect new emotions, scale and exciting storytelling. I foresee that with the premiere at the Moscow International Film Festival the glorious path of the new “Major Thunder” will begin at the box office and it will definitely collect much more than the first part of the film.
* Extremist organization, banned in Russia.
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