Last Tuesday, November 3, the VIII Russian-British Sochi International Film Festival started on the Russian Black Sea coast. The opening ceremony took place at the Winter Theatre. Unfortunately, this year, the organizers were unable to avoid all restrictions due to the situation with the coronavirus.
Among the rules that the participants and guests of the festival had to observe was the requirement for personal protective equipment, maintaining social distance, and chess seating in the theatre. However, the organizers couldn’t refuse the traditional red carpet. Most of the guests couldn’t handle it anyway and immediately took off their masks and gloves for a beautiful photoshoot. But basic changes in connection with the pandemic touched not only the opening ceremony but the entire film festival. The organizers changed the traditional format of the festival and cancel classic screenings. Despite the large program of foreign films, the number of foreign guests and journalists at the festival has also dropped significantly.
Guests and participants of the VIII Russian-British Sochi International Film Festival and Music Festival IRIDA
“In my opinion, in this difficult year, it is very important to hold a festival in order to give people the opportunity, both - offline and online formats, to join the number of our viewers and get away from pressing problems. We are grateful to Sochi for this traditional hospitality, and to all partners for their support. We wish to all of the viewers a pleasure in viewing,” - said Luba Balagova-Kandour, founder and president of the SIFFA film festival, at the first press conference.
Despite the extreme conditions of the film festival, this year the SIFFA program has been expanded and now includes four competitions: the main competition for feature films, a full-length documentary film competition, a short film competition (documentary, fiction, animation), and Mobile Cinema competition, which is being held for the first time. In total, over 50 Russian and foreign films will be shown as part of the events this year. On the opening day of the film festival, the jury was presented, which this year includes such representatives of the international film community as actor Peter Ferris, producer Natalya Ivanova, director Karl Bardosh, Honored Artist of Russia Oksana Stashenko, film critic Tatyana Yakovleva and Oscar-winning American producer Stephen Mao.
“This year I am taking part in the jury of short films, and in this category not only feature films are presented but also animation and documentaries. The movies are simply gorgeous, choosing a winner will not be an easy task! I am also very glad that this year the festival will gather millions of viewers, as the events will be broadcasted on online platforms,” - said Oksana Stashenko, a member of the jury of the short film competition.
In addition to the competition program of the film festival, a separate section of special screenings will be presented. Special attention in this section deserves the movie of Karen Shakhnazarov "White Tiger", dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Victory. The topic of heroic deeds during the war is also touched upon in the film by Denis Kiris "Victory Aviators". The section also includes the British documentary “Contemporary Art. What’s the Price?” directed by Igor Ulanov. At the festival, the London film is represented by the producer and production designer - Victoria Petroff.
Victoria Petroff, producer of film "Contemporary Art. What's the price?"
“With our movie, we want not only to strengthen cultural ties between Russia and Britain but also to invite viewers to take a journey with closed borders to the London world of contemporary art. Think about it, how people around the world could be ready to give millions for Banksy stencils? And in our film, we tried to tell how and who determines the value of contemporary art. What criteria are used for this? How to distinguish genius and skill from senseless shocking? And after all, how do you explain the exorbitant cost of many of these pieces?,”- shared the filmmakers, Igor Ulanov and Victoria Petroff.
A separate element of the SIFFA program will be a music festival funded by a grant from the Russian Cultural Foundation, provided within the framework of the Creative People federal project of the Culture national project. Several concerts will take place at the festival, including a concert by the Sochi Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oleg Soldatov with the participation of leading Russian musicians Valery Vorona, Mikhail Utkin, and Sergei Radchenko. In addition, viewers will enjoy film screenings dubbed by live musicians, master classes, creative meetings, and musical evenings. On November 7, at the closing ceremony of the festival, awards will be presented, including the special Vera Glagoleva Prize for the best debut.
We would like to thank profilerussia.com - the official media partner of the festival.
