The Film Festival will last from December 7th to 9th. During these days, 14 venues in three cities of Pomorye – Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk – will present 52 films selected out of 250 works that had been sent to the Festival Committee and entered the short lists.
The movies represent cinematography of 10 countries – Russia, Canada, Finland, Norway, the USA and other. The main selection criteria, the festival directors say, were their artistic merits and topicality, as well as correspondence to the problems occupying people in today’s world.
The goal of the Festival is to unite film makers of the Arctic region, to interact via culture and humanitarian projects.
The audience and the jury of the “Arctic Open” Festival will see both works of masters – winners of Russian and foreign festivals, and of emerging authors. Arkhangelsk, the Pomorye capital, will welcome and host more than 40 film directors, producers and actors from all over the world.
The contest consists of three programs – motion movies, short-length films, and documentaries.
The Festival will be opened with a film made in Arkhangelsk. “River is Nothing” tells a story about a talented girl from a Pomor village.
The non-competition program involves film makers from the People’s Republic of China. Hors concours screening will also include a new work of a Russian director and a member of the Festival jury, Igor Ugolnikov – “World War 1” anthology film. This unique project is a collaboration of film directors from the USA, Serbia, Germany, Turkey, UK, Canada, Russia, and France. Some of these countries were allies during the World War I, while others fought against each other, so each author’s novella presents different views on the century-old events. Besides, the audience is to see a film called “How Viktor The Garlic took Alexey The Stud to the Nursing Home” telling about a handicapped criminal who clings to life as much as he can. The non-competition program also features “The Legend About Kolovrat” – another new movie of the Russian production which has been recently released. It is devoted to one of the episodes of the Rus’ history of XIII century – the struggle against the Mongol-Tatar invaders. The movie title for the international rollout is “Furious.”
The Festival will be closed by “Karenina and I” – a film from the Norwegian documentalists. It tells about a Norwegian actress Gørild Mauseth who sets off to Vladivostok by the Trans-Siberian railway to play Anna Karenina. This role will open her eyes on Tolstoy’s famous novel and Russia in general and change her life forever.
During the Festival, a “Night of Festival Cinema” will be held, giving the guests a chance to see the contest films and meet their creators. The business program includes lectures, workshops and seminars covering various topics that occupy the professionals – cinematographers, researchers of the Arctic, scientists, and journalists.
The I International Film Festival of the Arctic Countries “Arctic Open” has received a grant from the President of the Russian Federation and has been supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Arkhangelsk region.
The festival will be held with the support of the Arkhangelsk self-contained paper mill. The general media partners are TASS Russian News Agency and the regional branch of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
The partners of the festival are: the regional branch of the Russian Filmmakers Union, Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Association of North-West Media, Association of Arctic Media (Saint Petersburg), Nordic Council of Ministers.
For the detailed program, trailers, plot summaries, and news of the I International Film Festival of the Arctic Countries “Arctic Open,” please see the website of the festival organizer – Bereginya Pomor Cultural Fund, http://fbereginya.com/.