The First International Film Festival of the Arctic Countries will take place in Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk. It is from these very places the exploration of the Russian North began and the first polar expeditions were started during which large geographical and geological discoveries were made in the Arctic.
According to Tamara Statikova, festival director, the idea of the festival was prompted by the International Arctic Forum held in Arkhangelsk in March, 2017. Its goal is to unite film makers of the Arctic region, to interact via culture and humanitarian projects.
The ‘Arctic Open’ Festival has received a grant from the President of the Russian Federation and is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Arkhangelsk region.
The festival's contest consists of two programs – a national and international one. The preference will be given to the films exploring the topics of national culture development, identity formation, search of spiritual and moral references points in the modern world, interaction between nature and human beings.
Out of total 250 applications received from Russia, near and far abroad, 48 were selected for the short list. Among them, there are 6 feature-length movies and 11 short fiction films. While the feature films are represented by native names, the nomination of “short fiction films” includes works from Russia, Canada, UK, Norway, as well as joint crews: Russia and Georgia, and Canada, Australia and USA. The program of documentary features is the most numerous one, with 23 films competing in it. For the documentary shorties, there are 8 titles.
The audience will see works of masters – winners of Russian and foreign festivals, as well as of emerging authors. The festival directors say that the main selection criteria for the films were their artistic merits and topicality, correspondence to the problems occupying people in today’s world.
Both contest juries, the Russian and the international one, will start their duties on October, 15th. The evaluation of contest films will last from November, 10th, to December 7th, 2017.
The non-competition program, along with Russian and foreign masters, involves film makers from the People’s Republic of China.
The festival will be held with the support of the Arkhangelsk self-contained paper mill. The general media partner is TASS Russian News Agency; the media partner is the regional branch of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The partners of the festival are: the regional branch of the Russian Filmmakers Union, Ministry of Culture of the Arkhangelsk region, Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Association of North-West Media, Association of Arctic Media (Saint Petersburg), Nordic Council of Ministers.
For details please see the website of the festival organizer – Bereginya Pomor Cultural Fund, http://fbereginya.com/.