We continue to introduce the audience to the lineup of the 33rd Message to Man International Film Festival. Our daily digest will keep you informed about the latest additions and more.
Those who may have missed some of these films, several additional screenings are available: Astrakan (part of the New Voices programme), The Nature of Love (part of the Superreal Cinema programme), Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano (part of the Panorama.doc programme), as well as several segments from the National and International competition programmes. Please find the schedule on our website.
The new programme of the International Competition includes several Russian premieres. Dom Kino’s Grand Hall screens two sets of documentaries back-to-back.
The first session offers a six-minute reflection on the transience of time and a one-and-a-half-hour journey through the barren Moroccan desert. Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka is a film of quest and hope. While wandering through the vast desert in search of “fragments from heaven,” which are parts of meteorites that once fell from the sky, its characters dream of different things: a nomad is searching for something that will improve his family’s harsh living conditions, a scientist is looking for an object for research. One is striving to survive the hostile, unchanging desert, while the other is attempting to understand how Earth manages to survive in space. After the screening, the audience will have the opportunity to discuss the film with its author.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/mezhdunarodnyj-konkurs-9-2/
The second segment of the programme features an incredibly beautiful masterpiece. Adieu Sauvage by Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento offers a tender and humane portrait of a small community. With Native American roots but hardly connected to the Kakua tribe, the Belgian filmmaker embarks on a journey to the Amazon jungle to gain an understanding of what it means to be a Native American in today’s world. After the screening, the author will be available for online discussion to share his insights.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/mezhdunarodnyj-konkurs-10/
Today’s National Competition is represented by two sets of films. The first one includes an animated film titled Mama America by Anna Shveigolz, which revolves around a missing mother, and The Elk Calf by Elena Koptseva, a film that portrays the challenging daily life and aspirations of an elk farm employee. The filmmakers of both works will be present for a Q&A session following the screening.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/nacionalnyj-konkurs-7-4/
The second set features a short film titled The Pit by Liza Koro, which explores an unexpected discovery at the bottom of a hole dug in a village, and a new work by Aleksey Fedorchenko, a distinguished figure in both fiction and documentary cinema, titled Mitrofan Aksenov’s Sausage. In this bibliographical detective, Fedorchenko, along with his colleagues, attempts to uncover the biography of the forgotten great Russian philosopher, whose work foreshadowed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Each screening will be followed by discussions with filmmakers.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/nacionalnyj-konkurs-8-4/
The audience can witness the development of young Russian cinema in our annual special programme, Current Student Cinema. Today’s screening at Dom Kino includes 5 live-action and documentary short films by VGIK students.
Another example of student cinema is this year’s special programme We’ll Draw It, We’ll Live It, brought from VGIK by animation filmmaker Natalia Dabizha. The programme comprises 15 short animated films by her students from various years, characterized by a wide range of techniques and stylistic approaches. The presentation will take place at the Aurora Cinema and will be hosted by Natalia herself, along with her former student and current VGIK teacher, Anna Bulakhova.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/narisuem-budem-zhit/
Equally striking short films are showcased as part of the In Silico Experimental Film Competition. This programme features 9 experimental films from around the world, combine footage from private VHS archives, satellite recordings, disclaimers of other films, and classics of Italian cinema. These hybrid, unparalleled films can be viewed at Rodina’s Grand Hall, and the audience will have the opportunity to engage in discussions with some of their creators afterward.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/konkurs-jeksperimentalnyh-filmov-in-silico-2-2/
Prisoner of Wakhan by Kyrgyz director Janyl Jusupjan is screened as part of the Panorama.doc special programme. The documentary, which premiered at the One World Human Rights Film Festival, narrates the tale of losing a home and the challenges of adaptation. After receiving humanitarian aid from Kyrgyzstan, ethnic Kyrgyz nomads in the Wakhan corridor abandon their highland homes in pursuit of a better life. However, they realize that the city will never provide the freedom they once experienced in their homes.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/panorama-doc-5/
Concluding the Multiverse special programme, the fourth screening is to be held at LenDoc. Titled “Apocalypse Now: Encountering Cataclysms, Finding Paths to Salvation,” this microverse presents four films that thematically explore the tension between resistance and escapism.
More about the programme: https://message2man.com/seances/multivers-apokalipsis-segodnja-vstrecha-s-kataklizmami-i-puti-k-spaseniju/
Two notable special screenings take place today at Dom Kino and Rodina.
The first one is Tatiana Rakhmanova’s Shelter Kingdom, a film that provoked a strong reaction at the Mayak festival of current Russian cinema and won two awards at once: for the best debut and best cinematography. The story revolves around teenagers who have graduated from an orphanage and decide to organize a party in a rented cottage, where they spend all their allowance money. These two days are a time when dreams come true. As their lease comes to an end, they have no intention of ending the fun, turning the house into a fortress. Even as the assault begins, the group of teenagers waits for it all to end and the dawn to arrive. A Q&A session with the director will follow the screening.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/specpokaz-9/
The second screening is The Niche, which won one of the main prizes at this year’s Spirit of Fire festival. The film will be personally presented by its director, Anton Ermolin. Described by the media as a “dreamlike picture in the spirit of magical realism,” it tells the story of a trucker who gives up everything to fulfill his biggest dream: to become a psychic biolocator.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/specpokaz-10/
Finally, the Word Order bookshop hosts a retrospective of animated works by Boris Kazakov, a St Petersburg director and artist who once worked in the field of “parallel cinema.” The retrospective will feature 13 of his short works made between 1996 and 2010, in which he experimented with various techniques. This screening is held as part of the In Silico experimental competition and with the support of the Marina Gisich Gallery, where Boris Kazakov’s solo exhibition Doctors/Huts is on display until the end of November. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
More details here: https://message2man.com/seances/retrospektiva-animacionnyh-filmov-borisa-kazakova-2/
For a complete schedule of screenings and events for the day, please check out our website and social media channels.
