For the third consecutive year, the Message to Man Festival seeks out compelling short films by our young local talents, bringing them together across several screenings. The selection process is straightforward: one session is curated by the International Competition selectors, while another is assembled by their colleagues from the National Competition.

SELECTION BY CURATORS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

The fiction and experimental films selected by the International Competition curators could hardly resemble one another less. Some explore the tender, trembling first experiences of intimacy (A Song for the Young Voice by Maya Giter, Ephemerality by Elizaveta Timofeeva); others address the devaluation of relationships in the age of dating apps, probing alienation and the interchangeability of partners (DANET by Sergei Kofman). A confident young director’s hand shines in Alla Kakhkharova’s existential parable Petenka Petr, which follows an idealist navigating the bleakness of mundane (Russian) life. Ivan Morozov’s Reproduction speaks to life’s relentless erosion, sparing not even the memories tying us to childhood. In this context, Megen Tarba’s Cradle comes across as an exquisitely pithy reflection on the ebb and flow of human life. A special place in the programme is held by Nadia Zakharova’s After Death, Ruins Remain, a memorial elegy to her friend and our colleague, filmmaker, composer, and champion of New German Cinema Peter Rempel, who passed away in 2025 at a tragically young age.

Katerina Beloglazova, Vasily Stepanov

SELECTION BY CURATORS OF THE NATIONAL COMPETITION

We have included five vivid, distinctive works that reveal the hidden dimensions of everyday life. The Black Blizzard takes us to Norilsk, presented here as a dark, semi-fantastical realm. Camilla’s Couriers portrays the world of delivery workers through voice notes and chat messages. Broken Lights examines the image of law enforcement in popular culture through the childhood memories of its author, the son of a police officer. Progress Report is a mischievous, conspiratorial mockumentary that uncovers the secrets of Soviet television. Ahurma is a son’s letter to a father who remains in a mountain town in Abkhazia. Our session is a collection of small, private odysseys.

Pavel Pugachev