From 13 to 27 November, the Echoes of the 36th Message to Man International Film Festival come to Moscow. Screenings will take place at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, the Zotov Centre, the Tretyakov Gallery, GES-2 and the Karo Oktyabr cinema.
Friday, 13 November
19:30, Karo Oktyabr
Unfading Dawn
Dir. Marlen Khutsiev, Russia, 2026, 126 min.
In 1897, Leo Tolstoy unexpectedly visits Anton Chekhov in hospital. So begins a series of meetings and conversations between two gravely ill writers about life and death, never without a sense of humour.
The Moscow premiere of Marlen Khutsiev’s film, left unfinished at the director’s death. In 2026 it was completed at the initiative of his friends and colleagues, with Ali Khamraev and Naum Kleiman as artistic supervisors and Andrei Natotsinsky as editor.
19:30, Garage Museum
Illusion of Reality: a programme of 9 films
The programme brings together films from the In Silico experimental competition and Liza Zenkova’s film from the Prompted Reality special programme, which gives the screening its title.
- Evening Light, dir. Roman Mikhailov, Russia, 2026, 3 min.
- secret [mis]communication system, dir. Nikita Spiridonov, Russia, 2026, 10 min.
- The Most Beautiful Man in the World, dir. Paolo Baiguera, Italy, 2026, 17 min.
- Dark Channel, dir. Yu Zhe, China, 2025, 12 min.
- Press Enter to Finish the Day, dir. Coralie H. Gourdon, France, 2025, 6 min.
- Textus Connectivus, dir. Mikhail Basov, Russia, 2026, 11 min.
- Two Pids, dir. John Smith, UK, 2026, 5 min.
- Illusion of Reality, dir. Liza Zenkova, Russia, 2025, 11 min.
- I Don’t Repeat It Twice, dir. Ksusha Kernosenko, Russia, 2025, 20 min.
Saturday, 14 November
16:30, Zotov Centre
Hideaway
Dir. Nikita Kartsev, Russia, 2026, 82 min.
The city as a space where every act of creation is shadowed by destruction, and the filmmaker’s own anxiety as he awaits the birth of his son.
18:15, Zotov Centre
Make Films
Dir. Masha Chernaya, Russia, 2026, 105 min.
A film about the shooting of Roman Mikhailov’s While the Sky Is Watching: a portrait of the director, his method and the world of underground dancers.
19:00, Garage Museum
Stay with Me a Little Longer
Dir. Stasya Khomeriki-Grankovskaya, Russia, 2026, 42 min.
Inga Balabanova remembers her son, not as a famous filmmaker but as Alyosha.
Me Too (Make Films)
Dir. Anastasia Prasolova, Russia, 2026, 5 min.
An aspiring documentary filmmaker searches for a subject for her film school entrance sketch and ends up at Aleksei Balabanov’s grave at 11 p.m.
Kidnappers
Dir. Aleksei Sukhovei, Russia, 2026, 31 min.
People land on an island to capture the calves of a prehistoric “sheep-ox”, yet they are not hunters.
Sunday, 15 November
17:00, Zotov Centre
Scenes from Capital
Directors: Fedor Maksimishin and Darya Suslova.
Concept: Mikhail Ratgauz.
Producers: Anna Vasilyeva, Asya Dunaevskaya, Maria Gribova.
Archive research: Maria Bessolitsyna.
A hypothetical reconstruction of Eisenstein’s unrealised project using artificial intelligence tools. A joint project of the Message to Man IFF and the Kinopoisk platform.
19:00, Garage Museum
Chuuraa
Dir. Evgenia Arbugaeva, UK, 2026, 18 min.
A Yakut palaeontologist descends into the depths of thawing permafrost in search of an ancient creature: a journey between mythology and science.
City of Owls
Dir. Zhenia Kazankina, Germany, Russia, 2026, 13 min.
On her last evening before leaving, Vera tells her little sister a bedtime story about a city of eternal night to hide the real reason they are parting.
The Wind Blows Wherever It Wants
Dir. Ivan Boiko, Georgia, 2025, 69 min.
Shepherds of Tusheti drive thousands of sheep along an ancient route between the Caucasus peaks and the Vashlovani steppes, where nomadic tradition meets the modern world.
Thursday, 19 November
19:30, Karo Oktyabr
Today Herman Is 122 over 85
Dir. Peter Shepotinnik, Russia, 2026, 44 min.
A few days in 2003 inside Aleksei German’s creative laboratory during the shooting of Hard to Be a God.
Friday, 20 November
19:00, Tretyakov Gallery
Joybubbles
Dir. Rachael J. Morrison, USA, 2026, 77 min.
In the 1950s, a boy blind from birth discovers he can control the telephone network by whistling, and gives rise to a subculture that shaped the future of hacking.
19:30, Karo Oktyabr
Chicks
Dir. Anna Donskova, Russia, 2025, 4 min.
The life and daily routine of young women after arrest, in a detention centre and before it.
Status “B”
Dir. Gleb Vazhdaev, Russia, 2026, 19 min.
Three would-be lovers meet in a military hospital.
Maternal Dreams
Dir. Anna Shveigolts, Russia, 2026, 5 min.
A film built from dreams about pregnancy and motherhood that different women sent to the director.
Before the Sun
Dir. Alisa Tamarova, Russia, 2026, 35 min.
A summer camp on the Black Sea becomes a place of growing up for teenagers from an orphanage.
Saturday, 21 November
18:00, Karo Oktyabr
Secret Mall Apartment
Dir. Jeremy Workman, USA, 2024, 92 min.
Eight Rhode Island residents secretly lived for four years in an apartment hidden inside a shopping mall, filming everything on camera.
18:00, Tretyakov Gallery
The Adventures of Mosaics on Ground and Under
Dir. Aleksey Fedorchenko, Russia, 2026, 75 min.
The story of mosaic art in Russia told through the Frolov dynasty of master craftsmen.
18:00, GES-2
Nostalgia for the Future
Dir. Brecht Debackere, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, 2026, 75 min.
A journey into the world of Chris Marker, “the best-known author of unknown films”, narrated by Charlotte Rampling.
20:00, Tretyakov Gallery
A Man of His Time
Dir. Emmanuel Marre, France, Belgium, 2026, 158 min.
September 1940: 49-year-old Henri Marre arrives in Vichy with copies of his own manifesto, determined to find a place in the new administration.
Sunday, 22 November
14:00, Tretyakov Gallery
Hair Curlers on a Bald Man
Dir. Masha Godovannaya, Russia, Mexico, 2026, 84 min.
An essay film about Georgy Millyar, the actor who played Baba Yaga, Koschei and “all the devils and kikimoras” in Aleksandr Rou’s fairy-tale films.
17:00, Karo Oktyabr
Yo, Love Is the Rebellious Bird
Dir. Anna Fitch, Banker White, USA, 2026, 78 min.
After losing her friend, Anna spends ten years building a 1:3 scale replica of her house and places inside it a puppet of Yo.
17:30, GES-2
ADGIN PRRX
Dir. Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria, 2026, 167 min.
A reworking of John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix: a personal meditation on time, the thrill of speed and its melancholy.
18:00, Zotov Centre
Arina
Dir. Ivan Druzhinin, Russia, 2026, 127 min.
The story of an artist seeking peace of mind when war knocks on her door.
19:30, Tretyakov Gallery
Magic Atlas
Dir. Sun Xun, Singapore, 2026, 85 min.
In the coal empire of Locha, a travelling magician lands in prison and, before his execution, hands the orphan Xiao Zhi a magic atlas.
Friday, 27 November
19:15, Zotov Centre
There’s Enough Happiness for Everyone
Dir. Dasha Senicheva, Russia, 2026, 84 min.
Terekhovo, one of Moscow’s last villages, is disappearing under new development, and so is the life of its resident Vasya.
21:00, Zotov Centre
The Logger
Dir. Artyom Tumakov, Russia, 2026, 95 min.
A logger cuts firewood in the winter taiga, thinking of home, where his wife and four children are waiting.