14th Kazan Muslim Film Festival: Official Press Release
5 September 2018
News
The 14th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival will be held from 4 to 10 September 2018 in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan with the support of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and in partnership with the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group.
This year, the organizing committee of the festival has received a record number of entries: 967 from 56 countries (including 30 short and full length feature, documentary and animations produced in Tatarstan). 65 films were shortlisted in competition, including 15 films produced in the Republic of Tatarstan that will be screened at the separate National Competition programme. Other nominations of the competition programme include full-length feature, full-length documentary, short feature, short documentary, as well as a Young Russia, a separate nomination devoted to the works by emerging Russian film directors. The list of the films participating in the competition programme of the festival is available on the official web-site: kazan-mfmk.com
The out-of-competition programme of the festival will be constituted around the following themes: Russia-Islamic World (including sections Cinema after the USSR or Post-Soviet Area; Hindustan the Destinies Crossroads; Persian Carpet; Maghreb Secrets; Turkish Motives; Dialogue of Cultures), Cinema World of Childhood and Test Films. There is also a separate programme, including 7 animations produced in Qatar within the framework of Qatar-Russia Year of Culture – 2018.
The parallel programmes are including Egyptian Cinema Days, Indian Cinema Days, Japanese Cinema Days (within the framework of the Year of Japan in Russia-2018) and Mongolian Cinema Days (See the Annex below).
The main venues of the 14th edition of the festival are Almaz Cinema Port located in Riviera Entertainment Complex as well as Mir Cinema.
The first International Film Festival Directors Forum will be held within the framework of the 14th edition of the festival. The forum will provide a networking and discussion ground for film industry leaders from Algeria, Switzerland, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, Turkey and Russia.
The opening ceremony of the festival will be traditionally hosted by Pyramida Complex, its closing ceremony will be held at Hermitage Concert Hall.
The festival will be attended by famous Russian actors as Irina Alferova, Kamil Larin, Marat Basharov, Emmanuel Vitorgan, Natalia Bondarchuk. The Turkish actors Serdar Goekhan, Ergun Kuyuju and Shukru Babajan will also attend the opening ceremony of the festival.
This year, it is the first time, when the Kazan Muslim Film Festival is visited by a delegation from Hollywood: a director Anouar H. Smaine and actors Sean Stone and Amina Zaman will present their new work ‘Battle Fields’. Another famous American actor of Polish descent to attend the festival is Marek Probosz, who is a member of the jury board of the 14th edition. He is a film, television and stage actor and known across Eastern Europe as the “De Niro of Poland”. Probosz has more than 50 starring roles to his credit. Many of his films have competed in key international festivals including Venice and Cannes.
The jury of the festival will also include a documentary film maker Emanuele Gerosa (Italy), the director of the Oran International Film Festival Seddiki Ibrahim (Algeria), a film director, script-writer and producer Ernest Abdyjaparov (Kyrgyzstan, his work ‘Sayakbay’ is the opening film of the 14th Kazan Muslim Film Festival), a director and a cameraman, a laureate of the State Prize of the USSR Shukhrat Makhmudov (Uzbekistan), a film director and the chairman of several film festivals in the Arab world, Rashid Fershiu (Tunisia), a film director Oktay Mirkasym (Azerbaijan), a film critic Sherif Awad (Egypt), a director of documentary TV films and a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation Elena Plygatyryeva (Russia), a film director and the winner of the grand-prix of the Kazan Muslim Film Festival – 2017 Mustafa Kara (Turkey), the director of the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve and a laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Tatarstan in Culture Zilya Valeeva (Russia). The jury chair is a people’s artists of the USSR Maya-Gozel Aimedova (Turkmenistan).
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16 films created by Tatarstan directors entered different sections of the competition programme of the 14th Kazan Muslim Film Festival.
Mullah by Ramil Fazliyev and Amir Galiaskarov entered the main section of the competition programme devoted to full length feature films. Native Home by Amir Galiaskarov and Nasur Yulbashaev entered the Young Russia competition section devoted to the works by emerging Russian directors.
The competition programme of the festival will also have a special National Competition section. The section established recently has 15 different films focused on Tatarstan or created by Tatarstan film makers: Yau by Aydar Gabdrahmanov; Gulnazek: The Winner of Divas by Elena Ermolina; To Finish Watching the Dreams for My Dad by Ramil Khadiullin; Light of Faith by Marsel Makhmutov and Rafil Galimullin, Why I Am Doing This by Alesha; Personal File of Fikryat Tabeev by Yuri Gvozd; Triptych by Zufar Khairullin; Age of Tatarstan by Sergey Kiatrov; Home by Daniil Fayzrakhmanov; Working Moment by Vlada Vasilyeva; Quran: From Sending Down till Publication in Kazan by Amir Gataullin; Up To the First Floor by Alexander Shirmanov; Five Answers to the Bottom by Rudolf Khaynurov; and Orphans by Nuraniya Zamaleeva. One of the films is Chistopol. Moments of the Life of This Town by a Russian director Galina Dolmatovskaya has been selected to the National Competition section, as it is dedicated to one of the towns located in Tatarstan.
Moreover, about 20 Tatarstan films will be screened in Kazan within the sections of the out-of-competition programme of the festival: Childhood Cinema World (8 animations by Sergey Kiatrov and Eduard Gibadullin); Dialogue of Cultures (Marjani by Amir Gataullin and Ainaz Mukhametzyanov; Osanna by Alexey Barykin); Test Screen or Youth Cinema (Depot by Soltan Sungatullin; Phenomenon of Russian Unsmilingness by Dinar Akhmetzyanov; Never Too Late by Ekaterina Sidorocheva), Special Screenings (Baigal by Ildar Yagafarov).
Several other works will be presented at Kazan Premieres Project held within the framework of the festival, including feature films Stubborn by Ilsiyar Damaskin and Rustam Rashitov; Ostazbike by Renat Karimov; Apipa by Ilshat Rakhimbay; Vodyanaya by Alexey Barykin as well as a documentary the Wind of Changes by Soltan Sungatullin about the backstage of a Tatar song festival held in Kazan in 2016.
Overall, the participants of the festival could have an overview of the majority of films produced recently in Tatarstan.
About the Kazan Muslim Film Festival
Since 2005, Kazan Muslim Film Festival is one of the largest film forums in Russia held annually in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. The founders of the festival are the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Administration of the City of Kazan and the Council of Muftis of the Russian Federation. The concept of the festival is reflected through its official motto ‘Through the dialogue of cultures to the culture of dialogue’.
THE PROGRAM OF THE FESTIVAL-2018
Opening film: Sayakbay by Ernest Abdyjaparov (Kyrgyzstan)
Closing film will be the winner of the 14th edition of the festival
Competition programme:
1. Full-length feature (10)
2. Short feature films (10)
3. Full-length documentary (10)
4. Short documentaries (10)
5. Young Russia (10)
6. National Competition (15)
Out-of-Competition programme:
1. Russia – Islamic World (with the following sections: Hindustan the Destinies Crossroads, Persian Carpet, Maghreb Secrets, Turkish Motives)
2. Dialogue of Cultures
3. Childhood Cinema World with a special section of Qatar animations within the framework of the Qatar-Russia Year of Culture 2018
4. Test Screen
5. Special Screenings
Parallel programme:
1. Days of Egyptian Cinema
2. Days of Japanese Cinema (within the framework of the year of Japan in Russia-2018)
3. Days of Mongolian Cinema
4. Days of Indian Cinema
5. Retrospective of films inspired by the works of Chingiz Aitmatov
Festivals Presentations
Meetings with Actors and Directors
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The 2018 edition of the Kazan Muslim Film Festival received film submissions from the following countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Algeria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine, the USA and Uzbekistan.
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Selection Committee of the Festival
- Sergey Lavrentiev, a film critic, a member of Nika Russian Academy of Cinema Arts (Russia)
- Ivan Forgach, a film critic (Hungary)
- Sergey Anashkin, a film critic (Russia)
- Nargiz Nureyeva, a screenwriter (Russia)
- Rustam Batirov, an expert on Islam (Russia)
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2018 Qatar-Russia Year of Culture
Although, Russia and Qatar are having significant differences in their geographical location, climate and history, these countries are sharing such common values as modernization with the preservation of national traditions and creation of the most favourable conditions for the development of human resources.
Cross-cultural projects, exhibitions, concerts and festivals, educational and charity events in both countries will help to unite original cultures of Qatar and Russia. This is one of the most prominent areas in terms of productive exchange of knowledge and experience, which respects their heritage as well as their ability to face the challenges of our time.
General producer and exclusive organizer of 2018 Qatar-Russia Year of Culture is WONDERLOFT company.
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