The Russian Pavilion and the virtual stand at Marché du Film are organized by ROSKINO with the support of the Russian Cinema Fund and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Despite complications due to the coronavirus pandemic, Russia will take part in the world’s major film festival. The Russian Pavilion will open on July 6 at Village International in Cannes. The Pavilion traditionally represents Russia at the Festival and the Marché du Film market being the main information center for promoting Russian cinema on an international scale.
“Russian presence at the famous festival in Cannes will be profound; national projects can be found at different sections of the official program of the Festival. Russian presence at the Marché du Film market at the virtual ROSKINO stand is also truly remarkable. This platform will become the main site of cooperation between industry representatives and international partners. This is all very important for worldwide promotion and creating cultural and business ties on the international level.” Olga Lubimova, Minister of Culture of Russia commented. “If earlier Russian presence at Cannes was defined by a few artists, this year we see a new wave of creators representing our film industry in a range of different formats: from full-length films to animation series made with innovative VR-technology. Russian participation at the Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du Film market this year has a special meaning and importance. That’s why ROSKINO and the Ministry of Culture put much effort into helping the most diverse projects be present at Cannes.” Evgenia Markova, CEO of ROSKINO commented.
Markova said that the Pavilion will become a place of offline discussions, presentations, and networking of Russian companies with their foreign partners. Online events will also be held at the Russian Pavilion for those who are not able to reach the festival because of the epidemiological situation. The Pavilion will serve as a meeting point for the Russian participants of the official program of the Festival with press representatives. Markova went on to explained that in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival, Russia is represented by two films. In one of those films, Russia acted as a co-production partner. Two Russian films have also been selected for the Un Certain Regard program. Russian projects are also listed for the L’Atelier section in the CineFoundation program, for La Semaine de la Critique and the Cannes XR competition at the Marché du Film. Moreover, Russian talents are starting to participate more frequently in international projects. Russian actor Alexander Kuznetsov played one of the main roles in the Franco-Belgian war drama film “Mon Legionnaire” which made the list of the prestigious Directors Fortnight program. And the production project by Alexander Rodnyansky `Where is Anna Frank?’, directed by Israeli director Ari Folman, will be shown at the Out of Competition program.
The official program of the Russian Pavilion includes presentations from leading Russian companies and their current projects:
• Central Partnership will present “December” by Klim Shipenko, “Row 19” by Alexander Babaev, “The Pilot: A Battle for Survival” by Renat Davletyarov, “Fire” by Alexei Nuzhny, and “Ice Demon” by Ivan Kapitonov
• CTB Film Company will present “Upon the Magic Roads” by Oleg Pogodin, “Letters”, “The Nutcracker”, and “The Magic Flute” by George Gitis, “Infiltration” by Aleksey Chadov, and “The Barkers: Mind the Cats!” by Fedor Dmitriev and Elena Galdobina
• Mirsand will present to international distributors the projects “Devyataev by Timur Bekmambetov and Sergei Trofimov, “Blue Whale” by Anna Zaitseva, and “Yep Age of Pioneers” by Dmitry Kiselev
• Art Pictures Distribution will present the film “Battle” by Ilia Belov
• Start will acquaint international buyers with the series “Passengers” by Karen Oganesyan, “Mediator” by Artem Aksenenko, “The Vampires of Midland” by Anton Maslov, and “Container” by Maksim Svechnikov
• RWV will present “Home” by Olga Gnedich, “Girls Got Game” by Maxim Svechnikov, “Artek: The Big Adventure” by Karen Zakharov, “Red Ghost” by Andrey Bogatyrev, “Damned Official” by Sarik Andreasyan, “Ginger’s Tale” by Konstantin Shchekin, “Palmyra” by Ivan Bolotnikov, and “Have Fun, Vasya!” and “Date in Bali” by Roman Karimov
• Sputnik Vostok Production will present “Elsa’s Land” by Julia Kolesnik and “Up to the Sun” by Evgeny Semyonov
• All Media, Planeta Inform Group of Companies, and Proline will also give full presentations on their current projects.
Other scheduled events for the Russian Pavilion include a discussion panel with Russian and Israeli filmmakers, and the presentation of Russia as a filming location. With the support of the Committee of Tourism of Moscow, our capital will be presented as an attractive location for film shootings, a key tourist center, and one of the main tourist sites in the country.
Markova said that it is important to mention presentations of ROSKINO’s own projects, targeted at the promotion of the Russian film industry at international markets. The Russian Film Festival is an annual international screening of Russian films which is aimed at acquainting foreign audiences with the diversity of Russian content: from fiction films to documentaries, series, and animation. It is the first project for the Russian cinema industry which is targeted at a broad international audience. ROSKINO will also hold a presentation of its new initiative, the Russian Content Worldwide brand, which focuses on the development of international cooperation ties and business communication. It does this by improving the transparency of the Russian cinema industry and organizing communication between Russian filmmakers who create projects for international markets and foreign colleagues looking for new names, original content, and new horizons in the sphere of cinema.
The Russian presence at the Festival will be broadened by joining traditional programs of the Cannes film market. As part of the Animation Day that takes place on July 11 at Marché du Film, ROSKINO will hold an Animation Works-in-Progress-Russia presentation. Six animation projects in development will be presented: “The Formula of Water” by Oleg Asadulin (SMF/Soyuzmultfilm), “Teddy Boom” by Denis Chernov (Riki Group), “Finnick” by Denis Belov and Ilia Kupriyanov (Riki Group), “The Snow Queen 5” by Alexei Tsitsilinand and Andrey Korenkov (Wizart), “The Warrior Princess” by Alexei Tsitsilin and Alexei Zamyslov (Wizart), “The Nutcracker” and “The Magic Flute” by George Gitis (СТВ). Evgenia Markova, CEO of ROSKINO, will moderate the discussion.
Markova explained that ROSKINO traditionally acts as a partner of the Producers Network official program of Marché du Film. Every year more than 500 producers from 100 countries across the world present their projects with international potential that are open to co-financing and co-production. A Producers Network brunch with a focus on Russia is planned for July 12, both offline and online. Five Russian producers are taking part, including Victoria Lupik, Marina Naumova, Polina Schlicht, Anna Shalashina, and Tamara Bogdanova. Markova also pointed out that Russian film companies at Marché du Film will be united by the virtual ROSKINO stand RUSSIAN CONTENT WORLDWIDE. The virtual booth this year will become the main platform for promoting Russian cinema on the international market. Foreign partners will be able to get acquainted with the newest Russian projects available for international sales and co-production; leading Russian production companies; and Russian projects in development with the biggest festival potential, carefully selected for international festival curators and companies interested in the distribution of independent content. Art Pictures Distribution, Central Partnership, All Media, Russian World Vision, Mirsand Ltd., Mosfilm, Planeta Inform, etc., – overall, more than 30 production and distribution studios will be presented, showing off more than 60 projects.