35th Message to Man International Film Festival will take place in St. Petersburg from October 17 to 25, 2025<\/p>\n
In\u00a02025, the Festival celebrates its 35th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Message to\u00a0Man represents more than three decades in\u00a0the history of\u00a0the new Russia, a\u00a0country painfully searching for its path after the collapse of\u00a0the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0is\u00a0also the story of\u00a0modern Russian documentary filmmaking, which has taken a\u00a0winding journey from television journalism to\u00a0the art of\u00a0closely observing reality. Along the way, it\u00a0has developed its own distinct style and form, helping to\u00a0carve out a\u00a0space in\u00a0Russia\u2019s still-evolving public sphere. Today, documentary cinema is\u00a0conquering new virtual spaces, as\u00a0it\u00a0recruits authors not only from the filmmaking community, but also from among journalists, bloggers, and engaged citizens. It\u00a0is\u00a0helping to\u00a0shape civil society in\u00a0Russia. Documentary film has become our historical memory, our tool for self-knowing.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five years of\u00a0the Festival also mark a\u00a0significant era in\u00a0the history of\u00a0global documentary cinema. Over this time, it\u00a0has broken out of\u00a0its niche and reached parity with live-action cinema: documentaries released in\u00a0wide distribution and selected for competition at\u00a0major international festivals\u2014starting with Cannes\u2014are no\u00a0longer rare.<\/p>\n
Nor are films rare that defy a\u00a0clear division between fiction and documentary. These works are undeniably nourished by\u00a0the raw material of\u00a0real life, moving far away from the conventions of\u00a0what Fran\u00e7ois Truffaut\u2014filmmaker and theorist of\u00a0the “new wave\u201c\u2014once derided as\u00a0\u201cdaddy\u2019s cinema.\u201d These are the very kinds of\u00a0films featured in\u00a0Message to\u00a0Man\u2019s Twin Peaks and Panorama.doc sections.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0\u201cnew new wave\u201d is\u00a0a\u00a0fitting term for the revolution auteur cinema has undergone over the past three decades. At\u00a0one point, it\u00a0seemed this wave might be\u00a0swept away by\u00a0commercial cinema. But as\u00a0it\u00a0turns out, the connection to\u00a0reality and the life lived has proven impossible to\u00a0sever. And today, documentary films and fiction works inspired by\u00a0documentary material and aesthetics are playing a\u00a0leading role in\u00a0preserving that connection.<\/p>\n
These three decades are also the personal journeys of\u00a0the filmmakers who have shaped the cinema celebrated at\u00a0Message to\u00a0Man. These were especially fruitful years for directors born in\u00a0the 1960s, who entered the world of\u00a0art at\u00a0nearly the same moment the Festival\u2019s first edition took place in\u00a01989. Now at\u00a0the height of\u00a0their careers, they include Viktor Kossakovsky and Sergey Dvortsevoy, Lauren Greenfield and Thomas Balm\u00e8s. The New Voices section is\u00a0dedicated to\u00a0the next generations of\u00a0filmmakers, including some of\u00a0the youngest.<\/p>\n
The Festival was established by Resolution No. 29 of the Soviet Union\u2019s Council of Ministers, dated January 16, 1989:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00ab…to approve the proposal of the USSR State Committee for Cinematography and the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, supported by the Leningrad City Executive Committee, to hold the First International Documentary Film Festival Message to Man in Leningrad, from January 25 to 31, 1989.<\/span>\u00bb<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Festival was founded by <\/span>Mikhail Litvyakov<\/b>, who now serves as its Honorary President.<\/span><\/p>\n Since 2010, the President of the Festival has been filmmaker <\/span>Alexey Uchitel<\/b>, director of both documentaries and live-action films, and People\u2019s Artist of Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the regulations, the Festival programme includes:<\/span><\/p>\n The selection committee receives at\u00a0least 2,500 submissions annually. More than 200 films are featured across competition and non-competition programmes.<\/p>\n Over its\u00a030-year\u00a0history, the Festival\u2019s juries, guests, and participants have included: Agn\u00e8s Varda, Isabelle Huppert, Werner Herzog, Frederick Wiseman, Ulrich Seidl, Claude Lanzmann, Paolo Sorrentino, Fanny Ardant, Volker Schl\u00f6ndorff, Eric Roberts, Udo Kier, Tonino Guerra, Godfrey Reggio, Bill Plympton, Mira Nair, Semih Kaplano\u011flu, Leni Riefenstahl, Michael Glawogger, Zbigniew Rybczy\u0144ski, Ulrich Gregor, Vadim Abdrashitov, Leo Gurwitch, Sergei Miroshnichenko, Sergei Ovcharov, Emir Kusturica, Gerrit van Dijk, Alexander Rogozhkin, Konstantin Bronzit, Sergei Dvortsevoy, Pavel Kostomarov, Erwin Leiser, Merab Mamardashvili, Sergei Loznitsa, Juris Podnieks, Vladimir Motyl, Savva Kulish, Fyodor Khitruk, Kira Muratova, Alexander Sokurov, Viktor Kossakovsky, Garri Bardin, Yuri Klepikov, Vladislav Vinogradov, Marina Goldovskaya, Alisher Khamidkhodjaev, Vladimir Pozner, Jem Cohen, Mark Cousins, and many other outstanding filmmakers.<\/p>\n Until 2022, the Festival had been accredited by\u00a0the International Federation of\u00a0Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), France.<\/p>\n Throughout its history, the Festival has received organizational and financial support from Russia\u2019s Ministry of\u00a0Culture and its cinematic department, the Government of\u00a0St. Petersburg, and its Committee on\u00a0Culture, as\u00a0well as\u00a0more recently from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives and the Festival\u2019s general sponsor, Ilim Group. The Festival is\u00a0organized by\u00a0the Non-Profit Partnership for the Promotion of\u00a0Cinema and Theatre Development \u201cMessage to\u00a0Man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n