XVIII international festival Zerkalo (Mirror) announces program and jury
The international film, music and architecture festival Zerkalo. Tarkovsky's Philosophy announces the participants of the international competition, the Russian film program Near and Dear, and this year's jury composition. The film festival will take place in Ivanovo region from June 28 to July 2. The admission to all screenings is free.
international competition
The main (international) competition of the festival has included 9 films produced by 13 countries: Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, Switzerland, Turkey, and France. All the participating films will have their first screenings in Russia, but almost all of them have been featured and recognized at major international film festivals.
Black Dog by the Chinese director Hu Guan received the main prize of Un Certain Regard program of Cannes Film Festival (and the dog Sin, which played the main part, won the Grand Prix of the unofficial, but quite popular, Palm Dog competition). Another Chinese film, A Woman, by Wang Chao was recognized for its best scenario at the 70th San Sebastian International Festival. Sidonie in Japan by the French director and scriptwriter Élise Girard featuring Isabelle Huppert and August Diehl (who played Woland in Master and Margaret, which made quite a stir) was presented in the parallel program of Venice Film Festival.
Ivo by Eva Torbsich, a drama about the feelings between a palliative ward care nurse and its female patient, participated in the Encounters program of 74th Berlin Film Festival. Goodbye Julia by Mohamed Kordofani participated in Un Certain Regard program of Cannes Film Festival and is an Oscar nominee as The Best Foreign Film of Sudan. The Festival's competition also includes the Serbian social drama 78 Days by Emilija Gašić, which participated in Rotterdam International Film Festival and won the Best Film Prize at the Cyprus Film Days, and the Turkish drama Hayat (Life) of the well-known independent filmmaker Zeki Demirkubuz telling a story of a young lady who did not yield to the life imposed on her and ran away from home. The film was featured at Saloniki Film Festival and received the Best Supporting Actor Prize of the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD).
The two Russian films, Father and Son by Ilya Zimin, whose native town is Ivanovo, based on Vasily Shukshin's story about the clash of two generations, mercy and cruelty, and the Yakutian mystical Cuckoo by Evgeny Nikolaev, will have their premiere screenings at the Zerkalo.
Black Dog by the Chinese director Hu Guan received the main prize of Un Certain Regard program of Cannes Film Festival (and the dog Sin, which played the main part, won the Grand Prix of the unofficial, but quite popular, Palm Dog competition). Another Chinese film, A Woman, by Wang Chao was recognized for its best scenario at the 70th San Sebastian International Festival. Sidonie in Japan by the French director and scriptwriter Élise Girard featuring Isabelle Huppert and August Diehl (who played Woland in Master and Margaret, which made quite a stir) was presented in the parallel program of Venice Film Festival.
Ivo by Eva Torbsich, a drama about the feelings between a palliative ward care nurse and its female patient, participated in the Encounters program of 74th Berlin Film Festival. Goodbye Julia by Mohamed Kordofani participated in Un Certain Regard program of Cannes Film Festival and is an Oscar nominee as The Best Foreign Film of Sudan. The Festival's competition also includes the Serbian social drama 78 Days by Emilija Gašić, which participated in Rotterdam International Film Festival and won the Best Film Prize at the Cyprus Film Days, and the Turkish drama Hayat (Life) of the well-known independent filmmaker Zeki Demirkubuz telling a story of a young lady who did not yield to the life imposed on her and ran away from home. The film was featured at Saloniki Film Festival and received the Best Supporting Actor Prize of the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD).
The two Russian films, Father and Son by Ilya Zimin, whose native town is Ivanovo, based on Vasily Shukshin's story about the clash of two generations, mercy and cruelty, and the Yakutian mystical Cuckoo by Evgeny Nikolaev, will have their premiere screenings at the Zerkalo.
The jury of the international competition included Deepti D'Cunha, the artistic director of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival; Yelena Duffort, the journalist and author of the French cinema website Kinoglaz.fr; Alena Shumakova, the selector of films from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals, as well as at the IFFs in Rome, Beijing, Pingyao, Trieste and Turin; the Chinese writer and film producer, author of the world bestseller One Night in Beijing Tammy Tai, and the Russian theater and film actress, a laureate of the Nika Award, Moscow International Film Festival and Window to Europe Festival Darya Ekamasova.
Near and Dear program
The traditional Near and Dear program, which will present a wide selection of the most prominent Russian films of the recent years, includes 14 films. The films among them are: the winner of feature-length debuts at Koroche 2023 festival – the touching family drama Take It and Remember It by Baibulat Batullin, Arseny Gerasimov's psychological thriller F20 with Pavel Davydov, Mikhail Troynik and Nikita Pavlenko, the dystopia Aquarium by Ilya Shagalov featuring Alexei Filimonov and Daria Ursulyak, the soap opera Era by Veniamin Ilyasov, which has just received the main prize of the New Movement festival.
The program also includes the films recognized with a Silver Saint George in different years within the Moscow Film Festival Russian Premieres competition: Petr Todorovsky's drama Healthy Man about a life purpose quest with Nikita Efremov, Svetlana Samoshina's directorial debut The Edge of the Broken Moon based on a script by Natalia Meschaninova and the social drama Liar by Yulia Trofimova featuring Elizaveta Ishchenko, based on the work of the Israeli writer Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.
The program includes Tina Barkalaya's Hoffmann's Fairy Tales with Ekaterina Vilkova, Evgeny Tsyganov, Maxim Stoyanov and Alexei Guskov, Alexandra Likhacheva's sports drama Kretsul with Nikita Volkov and Vladimir Gartsunov, the surreal drama First Love by Svetlana Proskurina, the black-and-white social drama A Similar Man by Semyon Serzin, touching the themes of existence and death, the crime thriller Truth by Maxim Kuznetsov featuring the star of the series U333 Kuzma Kotrelev, the film Light by Anton Kolomeyts with Elena Yakovleva, whose character tries to make sense of her youth right before she turns 60, and Marianna Kireeva's Smile! in unexpected documentary/feature drama genre, in which students of the acting course reflect on the biography of the outstanding Soviet film director Friedrich Ermler with the help of newsreels.
Invariably loved by Ivanovo residents, the Russian program is extended this year: besides feature films, it will for the first time feature 15 landmark Russian short films of the recent two years in the new Near and Dear. Short Films program.
Visitors of the Festival programs will select the winners of Near and Dear and Near and Dear. Short Films programs through a traditional spectator voting.
The program also includes the films recognized with a Silver Saint George in different years within the Moscow Film Festival Russian Premieres competition: Petr Todorovsky's drama Healthy Man about a life purpose quest with Nikita Efremov, Svetlana Samoshina's directorial debut The Edge of the Broken Moon based on a script by Natalia Meschaninova and the social drama Liar by Yulia Trofimova featuring Elizaveta Ishchenko, based on the work of the Israeli writer Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.
The program includes Tina Barkalaya's Hoffmann's Fairy Tales with Ekaterina Vilkova, Evgeny Tsyganov, Maxim Stoyanov and Alexei Guskov, Alexandra Likhacheva's sports drama Kretsul with Nikita Volkov and Vladimir Gartsunov, the surreal drama First Love by Svetlana Proskurina, the black-and-white social drama A Similar Man by Semyon Serzin, touching the themes of existence and death, the crime thriller Truth by Maxim Kuznetsov featuring the star of the series U333 Kuzma Kotrelev, the film Light by Anton Kolomeyts with Elena Yakovleva, whose character tries to make sense of her youth right before she turns 60, and Marianna Kireeva's Smile! in unexpected documentary/feature drama genre, in which students of the acting course reflect on the biography of the outstanding Soviet film director Friedrich Ermler with the help of newsreels.
Invariably loved by Ivanovo residents, the Russian program is extended this year: besides feature films, it will for the first time feature 15 landmark Russian short films of the recent two years in the new Near and Dear. Short Films program.
Visitors of the Festival programs will select the winners of Near and Dear and Near and Dear. Short Films programs through a traditional spectator voting.
The renowned film expert and film critic Sergey Lavrentyev will select the films of both international and Russian competitions and the film critic Vadim Rutkovsky has drafted the short film program.
Special thanks for the support and preparation of the Festival goes to the producer and film critic Sitora Alieva.
The Festival program is subject to change.
Special thanks for the support and preparation of the Festival goes to the producer and film critic Sitora Alieva.
The Festival program is subject to change.
The international film, music and architecture festival Zerkalo. Tarkovsky's Philosophy will be hosted with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Government of Ivanovo Region.
