The opening ceremony will traditionally take place in Yuryevets, the town of Andrey Tarkovsky's childhood, which celebrates its 800th anniversary this year. A grand concert by Yulia Peresild will open the festival. The Honored Artist of Russia Andrey Merzlikin will also participate in the opening ceremony. The gala opening and the concert will take place on 27 June in the town's central square, the show begins at 18:00. Entrance is free.

After the concert, the spectators will be offered to watch Andrey Tarkovsky's film Ivan's Childhood: the screening of the film is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War celebrated this year.

The festival retains its international status: the main program of this year's edition features 9 films produced with the involvement of 15 countries: Russia, Serbia, Italy, Croatia, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Ireland, India, France, Germany, Poland, Canada, South Korea. The participating films have already been recognized with awards at major international festivals, their Russian premieres will take place at the festival.
This year the competition included the psychological drama The Things You Kill by Alireza Khatami recognized with the best directing prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the criminal drama Santosh about a female police officer, by the debutant Sandhya Suri and featured in the Certain Regard program of the Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for Oscar in Great Britain and BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut.

The program also includes the tragicomedy The New Year That Never Came by the director Bogdan Mureșanu about the popular revolution in Romania. The film became the best in in the Horizons program of the Venice Film Festival and took grand prizes at the festivals in Luxembourg and Palm Springs. The story of loss and duty Dwelling Among the Gods by the director Vuk Ršumović became the best film at the Avignon Festival, received the prize for the best script at the Tolouse Festival and the best film prize at the New York Festival of Independent Films and Art.

The competition also included the drama And the Rest Will Follow by Pelin Esmer about the life-changing encounter of a famous film director and a maid in the hotel, the mediative drama What Does That Nature Say to You by the director Hong Sang-soo, which took part in the main competition program of Berlin Film Festival, and the melodrama Four Letters of Love by Polly Steele based on the world bestseller by Niall Williams.

The international competition will feature world premieres of two Russian films. They are the psychological drama Ward No. 6 by the director Eduard Zholnin about the consequences of a rapport between a doctor and a patient and the horror film The Fence, a new piece by one of the main modern Yakutian directors Dmitry Davydov, about human intervention with the laws of nature and the inevitable payback.

The international competition program of XIX International Film, Music and Architecture Festival Zerkalo. Tarkovsky's Philosophy:
1. The Fence, directed by Dmitry Davydov. Russia – world premiere
2. Dwelling Among the Gods, directed by Vuk Ršumović. Serbia, Italy, Croatia – Russian premiere
3. The New Year That Never Came,directed by Bogdan Mureșanu. Romania, Serbia – Russian premiere
4. And the Rest Will Follow, directed by Pelin Esmer. Turkiye, Bulgaria, Romania – Russian premiere
5. Ward No. 6, directed by Eduard Zholnin. Russia – world premiere
6. Four Letters of Love, directed Polly Steele. Great Britain, Ireland – Russian premiere
7. Santosh, directed by Sandhya Suri. India, France, Great Britain, Germany
8. The Things You Kill, directed by Alireza Khatami. France, Poland, Canada, Turkiye – Russian premiere
9. What Does That Nature Say to You, directed by Hong Sang-soo. South Korea – Russian premiere

The winners of the international program will be determined by a professional jury, which has included Bae Chang-ho, a classic of South Korean cinema, winner and participant of international film festivals; Andrea Gatopoulos, an Italian director, producer and distributor, whose films have participated in key world festivals; Rashmi Doraiswamy, an Indian film critic, professor, honorary editor-in-chief of the world's first magazine Cinemaya about Asian cinema; Babak Karimi, an actor, editor and producer, a Silver Bear laureate for his role in A Divorce; Alla Sigalova, a choreographer, director, teacher, Honored Arts Worker of the Russian Federation, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and Nikita Kartsev, a film critic, editor-in-chief of the Art of Cinema magazine.

The Russian program Svoi included 14 films, which have already been featured and recognized at Russian and international festivals. The Svoi program familiarizes spectators with the most outstanding auteur film of the recent years. Most of the films will be introduced by the authors, with spectator Q&As after the screenings.
The program includes among others: the northern fairy tale Agnia by Pavla Stratulat, which received awards for the best script and the best actress at the Mayak festival of Russian contemporary cinema and a jury prize at the 47th International Women's Festival in France; the Yakutian mystical drama about love and a clash of cultures The White Ship by Inga Shepeleva, which was nominated for a Golden Eagle as the best feature film; the family drama about a loss Endless Winter by Nikolay Larionov with Aleksander Robak and Yulia Marchenko, and the first and the last directing work of the acclaimed writer and script author Yury Arabov Gjirokastra, which received the special jury prize at the auteur film festival Zimny in 2024.
The Svoi program also features the kind melodramatic story Two People in One Life and a Dog by Andrey Zaytsev about two elderly St. Petersburg intellectuals performed by Aleksander Adabashyan and Svetlana Kryuchkova, which took part in the Main Competition of this year's edition of the Moscow International Film Festival; the notorious hit The Summer Will End by Vladimir Munkuev and Maksim Arbugaev with Yura Borisov and Makar Khlebnikov, which won the grand prize at the Mayak Festival and two Nika prizes — for the best actor and the best editing director work; the winner of the Russian Premieres competition of the 47th Moscow International Film Festival License to Love by Anton Maslov; Onegin Hotel by Irina Evteeva created using a special glass animation technique.
The program also included Dad Croaked on Saturday, which became the best debut at the Mayak Film Festival in 2024, and the film's director Zaka Abdrakhmanova was recognized the Discovery of the Year at the Nika Awards; the film participant of the Main Competition of the 47th Moscow International Film Festival The Planet by Mikhail Arkhipov dedicated to the sci-fi pioneer Pavel Klushantsev; Family Happiness by Stacy Tolstoy based on the eponymous novel by Leo Tolstoy with Evgeny Tsyganov as lead actor who received a Silver Saint George for the best actor;Natalia Nazarova's Philately awarded with the Grand Prize of the 32nd edition of the Window to Europe Film Festival and a special prize "for the poignant acting duo" (Alina Khodzhevanova and Maksim Stoyanov); Clean Slate by Polina Kondratyeva, which became the best full-length debut film at Koroche-2024 film festival; Feelings by Viktoriya Mokerova awarded for the best script and the best actress at the Zimny festival.

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