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Festivals
Window to Europe Russian Films Festival
Window to Europe Russian Films Festival has taken place in Vyborg since 1993 when famous Russian cinema producers Savva Kulish and Marlen Khutsiev together with music composer Mikhael Tariverdiev, documentary films producer Vladimir Konovalov and several other Russian producers including Gevorg Nersisyan and Andrey Simonov decided to gather in the city of Vyborg, the people who despite difficult times kept making films and risked distributing their films (1993 is known as the most difficult period in the history of Russian cinematography). The idea of turning the main prize of the film market festival (this was the initial title of the festival) into support of film promotion was readily accepted by State Cinema Authority of Russia presided over at the time by Armen Medvedev. The same state authority helped generate the title of the festival: Window to Europe.
The location for the venue has been carefully selected. Vyborg is a surprisingly beautiful and extremely cinematographic town. A lot of films were shot in Vyborg and filmmakers like it.
Every year the festival is visited by the best representatives of the Russian culture: film directors and critics, actors and singers, musicians and artists, pressmen and politicians… The festival is always a holiday. It includes premieres of new films and demonstration of films that participated in other festivals, but for the Vyborg spectators it is still the premiere, audience is waiting for these pictures.
The Vyborg festival consists of three competitions by tradition: fiction films, documentary films and animation films. These three competitions demonstrate the best works, created during the period since the last Vyborg festival till the present one.
Pictures program always pleases the jury and the audience by its variety: it includes films made by recognized experts and by the beginners that have already proved themselves with their striking first works.
But «Window to Europe» is not only a holiday, but also a cinematographic laboratory. Presentations of new projects are performed at every forum and filmmakers share their dreams and plans with audience. Sometimes they bring to the «Window to Europe» their new works, planned at the festival some years earlier.
By tradition, the president of festival jury is the last year winner. And vice versa, a director or an actor that was the jury president a year ago may take part in the competition of this year.
The winners of the «Window to Europe» festival were the pictures «Makarov» by Vladimir Khotinenko, «Dreams» by Karen Shakhnazarov and Alexander Borodyanskiy, «Passions» and «Chekhovs motifs» by Kira Muratova, «Summer people» by Sergey Ursulyak, «Calendula flowers» by Sergey Snezhkin, «Wedding» by Pavel Lungin, «Taurus» by Alexander Sokurov, «The Cuckoo» by Alexander Rogozhkin, «A walk» by Alexey Uchitel.
«Special event» is an audience favorite program of the festival; during this program a lot of famous guests come to Vyborg, artistic meetings are organized and the Vyborg audience become the first spectators of the new projects.
An important part of the cinematographic forum is the program «Vyborg score». It is know-how of the festival: practically all the films, the competitive and the panoramic ones take part in the absolutely independent competition. The results of the «Vyborg score» should be the main indication of importance of the Russian pictures for audience. And the audience is very different, because not only cinematographers, but all the participants of the festival, guests, the press, all the accredited ones and, of course, the spectators take part in the competition interrogation. Often the opinion of the jury and the results of public interrogation don’t coincide. And sometimes a happy coincidence occurs when the «Vyborg score» and the jury choose the same winner. Festival is a live event, it is born anew every time, independently of which time it is celebrated: the tenth, the eleventh or twentieth time. The new programs are prepared and the organizing committee of the festival tries to select the best for these programs. But, nevertheless, the results depend on the audience’s perception of the festival and, first of all, the new films.
The Vyborg audience is remarkable for that fact that it is always an ally of the festival. Its opinion is important for the filmmakers to understand what the audience needs and which film will be interesting for people. And the spectators not always choose a simple, amusing and melodramatic film. The Vyborg audience is very experienced. It likes films and it knows how to see them, therefore its opinion is very precious.
Celebration of cinematographers and films anniversaries is also a famous tradition of the Vyborg festival. A special «round table» considering the problems of the national cinematography is also celebrated in this town every year.
And, of course, a great cultural program is organized every year for the festival. Fine concerts of the masters of arts, popular singers and famous artists always take place within the limits of the festival.
The organizers of the festival want the cinematographic festival to be the festival of culture, as it, in fact, usually occurs in Vyborg. It is a remarkable town. It is a town of natural scenery, inspiring the directors by its ancient walls and beautiful 600-years history. Many of them come to the Vyborg festival, later come back to shoot films and after come again to present their films for audience. This wonderful circle is not closed but marvelously cyclical. All in Vyborg disposes to good working, pleasant meetings and serious and creative relations.
MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FILMS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
The Rolan Bykov Fund celebrates the International festival of films for children and youth every year during the winter vacation. The year 1967 is considered to be the birthday of the children's festival, when competition of the children's films was organized within the framework of the Moscow International Film Festival that included competitions of the «adult» fiction and documentary films. An outstanding actor and director Rolan Antonovich Bykov was passionate enthusiast and supporter of the competition of films for children. He tried to attract attention of the cinematographers to the problems of children's films. International Development Foundation for the films and television for children and youth, created by Rolan Bykov, following the instructions of its founder, keeps on increasing the moral and intellectual wealth, accumulated by cinematograph and television with an aim to educate the growing up generations of Russia in the spirit of high morality and culture, in the interests of improvement of their social status, provision of opportunities for normal physical, mental and cultural development of children and youth, solving of the family problems.
Nowadays IFF for children and youth is celebrated regularly with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture, and the place of its celebration for the third consecutive year is family complex «Five Stars».
The competitive program includes the films, made for children by the cinematographers from around the world during the last year. The «Panorama» program includes the most remarkable films for children of the past year.
Since this cinematographic forum is for children, it is not only the opinion of professionals that is important, but the opinion of the young cinema lovers too. By tradition of the festival, two Moscow youth juries besides the adult professional international jury are formed. The first of them includes children of the primary school age, and the second one — senior pupils.
A lot of creative and interesting meetings, master-classes are celebrated within the limits of the festival. The festival events are attended by cheerful children, famous guests, cultural figures and artists.
Since the year 2000 during the celebration of the IFF for children and youth the Rolan Bykov Fund has been presented annual prizes instituted by the Foundation. These prizes are won by culture figures and artists that consider the concern for children and their education to be their life-work.
Window To Europe
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Childish
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