The 35th Message to Man International Film Festival unveils its competition programmes. From 17 to 25 October, 83 films will compete for awards across the International Competition, the National Competition, and the In Silico Experimental Film Competition.
Selected out of more than 2,900 submissions from 95 countries, the programme features works from 35 nations, exploring an infinite array of themes. Creative teams from across the globe will present both documentary and fiction films: some rooted deeply in genre traditions, others boldly defying all conventions; some aspiring to lofty grandeur, others drawing brilliance from the everyday. Animation, experimental works, and Russian cinema remain staples of the Festival’s competitions.
The Festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, and the St. Petersburg Committee for Culture.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
All participants in the International Competition will vie for the Festival’s awards, including the Grand Prix of Message to Man: full-length documentaries and short films spanning documentary, fiction, and animation.
“At the heart of the 35th anniversary Message to Man International Competition are themes and stories that have defined the Festival since its inception: the camera’s duel with reality, the hero’s struggle with self, and life’s confrontation with death. We have curated films that thrive in complex dialogue. They speak of a painful present and an equally painful past (as in ‘Tales of the Wounded Land’ and ‘The Governor’), of a reality that upends social constructs (‘The Godmother’), or of a life transformed into a perfect dream (‘Graziano – A Hermit’s Story’). You will witness the ongoing dissolution of the once-solid boundary between fiction and non-fiction (‘Wind, Talk to Me’), and encounter a compelling historical documentary narrated by a machine—about events that never occurred (‘09/05/1982’). Each film in the competition portrays humanity as both a part of a vast world and a self-contained entity, a being equal to an entire universe,” — Vasily Stepanov, Head of the International Competition Selection Committee.
Full-length documentary films:
- New Beginnings, 2025, Isabelle Ingold, Vivianne Perelmuter (Belgium);
- Wind, Talk To Me, 2025, Stefan Djordjevic (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia);
- The Governor, 2024, Danel Elpeleg (Israel);
- Graziano – A Hermit’s Story, 2024, Jozefien Van der Aelst (Belgium, Germany);
- Fallout Zones, 2025, Igor Elukov (Russia);
- The Godmother, 2024, Marzena Sowa (Belgium, France);
- Tales of the Wounded Land, 2025, Abbas Fahdel (Lebanon);
- Always, 2025, Chen Deming (USA, France, China, Taiwan).
Short documentary films:
- Insomnia, 2025, Artyom Senkovsky, Xenia Gaun (Russia);
- Aoi Yamada, 2025, Vitalii Akimov (France);
- One Summer Day, I Drank Bubble Tea, 2025, Maung Sun (Myanmar, France);
- Citizen-Inmate, 2025, Hesam Eslami (Iran);
- For Here Am I Sitting in a Tin Can Far Above the World, 2024, Gala Hernández López (France);
- 09/05/1982, 2025, Camilo Restrepo, Jorge Caballero (Spain);
- Silvesterchlausen, 2025, Andrew Norman Wilson (USA);
- My Name Is Oil, 2025, Igor Smola (Azerbaijan);
- Some of You Fucked Eva, 2025, Lilith Grasmug (France);
- Merging Bodies, 2024, Adrian Paci (Italy, Albania);
- Youth Is an Island, 2024, Louise Ernandez (France);
- 3350 km, 2024, Sara Kontar (France, Syria).
Short live-action films:
- Samba Infinito, 2025, Leonardo Martinelli (Brazil, France);
- What If They Bomb Here Tonight, 2025, Samir Syriani (Lebanon);
- Upper, 2024, Lennert Madou (Belgium);
- The Death of a Hero, 2024, Karin Franz Körlof (Sweden);
- Notes From a Poet, 2025, Simon Garez (Canada);
- The Nature of Dogs, 2024, Pom Bunsermvicha (Thailand, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong);
- In Between Storms, 2025, Fran Zayas (Puerto Rico);
- Mensch, 2024, Luca Lellouche (France);
- The Spectacle, 2025, Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary, France);
- The Birches, 2025, Maria Sergeeva-Kashlachyova (Russia);
- I Hear It Still, 2025, Constance Bonnot (France);
- Reversed Footsteps, 2025, Maxim Eruzhenets, Marina Kirakosyan (Armenia, Russia).
Short animated films:
- It Shouldn’t Rain Tomorrow, 2024, Maria Trigo Teixeira (Portugal, Germany);
- A Round of Applause for Death, 2024, Stephen Irwin (UK);
- Glasses, 2025, Jeong Yumi (South Korea);
- Socially Approved Positions of Bodies in Space, 2025, Lera Oleynikova (Russia);
- Challenges of a Solitary Mind, 2025, Astrid Rothaug (Austria);
- Urban Duo, 2024, Yue Hongyu (China);
- Ordinary Life, 2025, Yoriko Mizushiri (France, Japan);
- Silent Panorama, 2024, Nicolas Piret (Belgium);
- Shocking Dreams in the Circus, 2024, Xun Sun (China);
- Droomadom, 2025, Luzia Johow (Austria);
- Stampfer Dreams, 2024, Thomas Renoldner (Austria).
NATIONAL COMPETITION
Russian-produced full-length and short films will compete for the prize, with no concessions made for runtime.
“This year the National Competition has grown even younger: the number of debuts and sophomore works by emerging Russian filmmakers has increased. This is largely due to the proliferation of film schools whose graduates passionately engage with diverse artistic forms of documentary cinema. Consequently, our selection focused primarily on the distinctiveness of cinematic language. Among the chosen works are classic observational films, montage experiments, archival explorations, animated documentaries, philosophical essays, and even a documentary series. The competition programme showcases a wide diversity of individual voices, a broad genre spectrum, and a palpable curiosity about the world, observed through the documentary lens,” — Alena Solntseva, Curator of the National Competition.
Films:
- Landscape Waiting, 2025, Mariia Sediaeva (Russia);
- Birthday, 2025, Murad Kamalov (Russia);
- The Store, 2025, Elizaveta Savvina (Russia);
- Adventures of a Real Samurai in the World of Disasters, 2025, Dmitry Vorobiev, Lida Kanashova (Russia);
- Holidays, 2025, Alexander Zubkovsky (Russia);
- Mind the Closing Doors, 2025, Yana Isaenko (Russia, France);
- Not Karenina, 2024, Pavel Timofeev (Russia);
- Once Upon a Time in Leningrad, 2025, Mikhail Arkhipov (Russia);
- Old House, 2025, Lyubov Korlykhanova (Russia);
- ΚΟΙΝΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ, 2024, Yana Osman, Anton Khamchishkin (Russia);
- The Instinct, 2025, Philip Ustinov (Russia);
- The Three Lives of Boris, 2025, Alisa Tamarova (Russia);
- Nets, 2025, Sofia Keler (Russia);
- Conversation, 2025, Masha Godovannaya (Russia, Mexico);
- The Table, 2025, Ivan Vlasov (Russia);
- Happin, 2024, Inna Kudryavtseva (Russia);
- Not Enough Space, 2025, Artem Ignatiev, Anton Petrov (Russia);
- Harmony and Love, 2025, Arina Galizdra (Russia);
- Pause, 2025, Konstantin Atamanyuk (Russia).
IN SILICO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION OF EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILMS
The In Silico Competition celebrates its anniversary alongside the Festival, marking its 15th edition this year.
“Last year we showcased neural network films in the ‘Kiberglaz’ section, and now they make up half of the competition. Soon, thanks to AI, choosing between documentary and fiction will become a purely stylistic decision for filmmakers. The interplay between the human and the technological is perhaps the central theme of this year’s programme. The 15th ‘In Silico’ Competition features 20 entries, with many familiar names among the directors: Anaïs Ibert, Nikita Spiridonov, Christoph Girardet, Christine Lucy Latimer, Giulia Magno, Andrea Gatopoulos, Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo, Nicolaas Schmidt, and Jörn Staeger—the latter two having participated in the inaugural ‘In Silico’ Competition in 2011,” — Mikhail Zheleznikov, Curator of the In Silico Experimental Film Competition.
Films:
- Portrait-Collage – Claire Panaget, 2024, Anaïs Ibert (France);
- A Different Goal, 2024, Marco Joubert (Canada);
- Laika Will Never Return to Earth, 2025, Timur Molchansky (Russia);
- Secret [mis]communication system 2, 2025, Nikita Spiridonov (Russia);
- One Hundred Years Later, 2025, Christoph Girardet (Germany);
- The Eggregores’ Theory, 2024, Andrea Gatopoulos (Italy);
- Manifesto for Future AIs, 2025, Sebastian Macchia (USA);
- Someone To Steal Horses With, 2025, Dylan Pailes-Friedman (Italy, USA);
- We Made Telephones, 2024, Ben Young (UK);
- Aferrado, 2024, Esteban Azuela (Mexico);
- Neva, 2024, Elizaveta Zharikova (Russia);
- Incidents of a Finite Future, 2024, George Drivas (Greece);
- Assets, 2025, Christine Lucy Latimer (Canada);
- Bubble Bath, 2025, Giulia Magno (Italy);
- Mission Motherland, 2025, Anna Grave (Russia);
- Hymn of the Plague, 2024, Ataka51 (Russia);
- The Ghost Feel Hour, 2025, Eero Tammi (Finland);
- Like Horses Standing In The Rain, 2024, Nicolaas Schmidt (Germany);
- Under Rays, 2025, Jörn Staeger (Germany);
- This Is Not Your Garden, 2025, Carlos Velandia, Angélica Restrepo (Colombia).