18.10.2026 at 20:50. National Competition 4: Maternal Dreams, Kidnappers, Hideaway, Avrora, Small Hall

Time and place

Sunday, 18 October 2026 at 20:50

Aurora Cinema Centre – Small Hall: Nevsky prospect, 60

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Description

MATERNAL DREAMS

2026, 5 min., Russia, language - Russian; short-length documentary

Director: Anna Shveigolts

KIDNAPPERS

2026, 31 min., Russia, language - Russian; short-length documentary

Director: Aleksei Sukhovei

HIDEAWAY

2026, 82 min., Russia, language - Russian; full-length documentary

Director: Nikita Kartsev

Maternal Dreams

Director: Anna Shveigolts

Screenwriter: Anna Shveigolts

Producer: Anna Shveigolts

Producer company : School of Documentary Animation, Rudnik Film Festival

Year: 2026

Country: Russia

Duration: 5 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

World premiere

Once I had a prophetic dream about a miscarriage. The idea for the film grew out of that dream. Dreams of pregnancy and childbirth, with rare exceptions, come only to women — whether they have children or not. Through 2025, women anonymously sent in their dreams of motherhood via Google Forms. Some of those dreams became the basis for my film.

About the director:

Maternal Dreams

Anna Shveigolts

Animation director, artist, and illustrator. She graduated as a ceramicist from the Abramtsevo College of Art and Industry, and later from VGIK as an animation director (workshop of Valentin Olshvang) and from the SHAR School Studio, where she also worked as an artist on Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s film The Nose, or the Conspiracy of Mavericks. Her film Oh Whose Is the Rye won Best Animated Film at the Saint Anna Festival, a Special Mention at the Big Cartoon Festival, and other accolades; her next film, Mama America (2023), was awarded jury diplomas in the National Competition at the 33rd Message to Man and at the Insomnia Animation Festival.

Kidnappers

Genres: Documentary, Short-length

Director: Aleksei Sukhovei

Operator: Aleksei Sukhovei

Screenwriter: Aleksei Sukhovei

Producer: Nikolay Bem

Producer company : YeniseyFilm, LLC with support Regional Cinema Support Fund

Year: 2026

Country: Russia

Duration: 31 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

Russian premiere

People land on an island and start searching. Their quarry, it turns out, is a herd of a prehistoric animal, the “ram-bull.” They pursue the beasts and shoot at them, but they are not hunters. From the wild herds they take only the young, pack them into crates, and carry them down to the shore. A boat rides at anchor, waiting for the catch.

About the director:

Kidnappers

Aleksei Sukhovei

Director and cinematographer. He graduated from the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy as a systems engineer (2001), took the Editing course at VGIK’s cinematography faculty (2005–2006), and later studied at ‘Internews’ (documentary workshop by Arkady Kogan and Natalia Gugueva) and at the School of Film and Television (workshop by Marina Razbezhkina and Vladimir Fenchenko). His documentaries Guests (2015), Sophie’s Wedding (2018), and Promoting Success (2019) have screened at major non-fiction festivals, such as Flahertiana, Artdocfest, and Jihlava, and were included the longlist of the Lavr Award. The documentary series Orphans (2022) won the National Competition at the 32nd Message to Man IFF.

Hideaway

Genres: Documentary, Full-length

Director: Nikita Kartsev

Operator: Nikita Kartsev

Screenwriter: Nikita Kartsev

Producer: Nikita Kartsev

Year: 2026

Country: Russia

Duration: 1 h. 22 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

World premiere

The filmmaker explores the city as a space of constant renewal, where every act of making is followed by demolition. Together they form an unstable closed system, where everything either bears witness or breeds unease. That unease is sharpened not only by the wait for a son’s birth and the rethinking of what it is to be a father, a husband, a man; the world beyond the frame feels unreliable too. Every object that enters the frame has a double life: an outer, literal role (a scaffolding, a hotel room, a balcony, a pavement, the inside of a bus, a poster on a wall, a mother’s womb) and an inner, hidden one, which gives the film its title: Hideaway.

About the director:

Hideaway

Nikita Kartsev

Director, producer, and film critic. He graduated in journalism from Moscow State University in 2009. Since 2005, he has worked as a critic; from 2015 to 2020 he was a producer at the STS channel; from February 2023 to March 2026 he was editor-in-chief of Iskusstvo Kino. Alongside this he produced independent web series (Easy Round) and series for national television (Ready to Do Anything). In 2022 Kartsev made his first film as director, the documentary short Caution, People, which screened at international festivals. His series Cinema 3.0 (2023) was featured in the documentary programme of the Moscow International Film Festival and in the industry programme of Message to Man. He was creative producer and author of the short film Docks in the Opening almanac at Koroche Festival in 2025. Hideaway is his first full-length documentary.