News & Events in Belarus

MINSK, 6 November (BelTA) – The official opening ceremony of the 22^nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad will take place at Moskva cinema house in the Belarusian capital on 6 November, BelTA has learned.

The 22nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad will be held from 6 through 13 November 2015 under the slogan of Eye of Pleasure. The program of the festival will include 194 films from 60 countries. The audience will be invited to see 91 feature and 70 nonfiction films, 23 animated pictures. Films will be screened at the cinema houses Moskva, Tsentralny, Pobeda, Pioner and Mir.

Last year partaking in the festival were 47 countries that presented 163 films in various genres. The festival screenings were attended by 30,000 people.

The 22^nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad will mark the 120^th anniversary of the world cinematography. The Lumiere brothers were the first filmmakers in history

Their first film shot in 1895 is considered the first true motion picture. To mark this event the Minsk festival will open with Guillaume Nicloux’s film Valley of Love (France) starring Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu.

The competition program of the Listapad Film Festival consists of feature films (the main competition program and the contest of debut films Youth on the March), documentaries (the main competition program and the contest of national cinematography schools), the children’s competition Listapadzik and the national competition (includes feature films, documentaries and animations).

This year French actress and filmmaker Fanny Ardant will bring her second full-length work Obsessive Rhythms to Belarus. Her film will open the Youth on the March program in Moskva cinema house on 7 November.

Seven groups of international judges work on the Listapad Film Festival. The awards of the festival include the Grand Prix Golden Listapad (for the best movie), Silver Listapad (Film as a Phenomenon of Art), Bronze Listapad (People’s Choice Award).

The eventful program of the festival also comprises master classes and retrospective screenings. A retrospective screening of the best films to mark the 120th anniversary of the Japanese film company Shochiku will take place at the 22^nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad. Among the pictures to be screened in the Belarusian capital will be masterpieces of such recognized masters as Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Shohei Imamura, Kenji Mizoguchi and others.

The 22^nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad will open an industrial panel discussion with the participation of foreign specialists in cinematography.

The main organizer of the festival is the center of visual and performing arts "ART Corporation”. Founders are the Culture Ministry, the Minsk City Hall, with the participation of the Belarusian TV and Radio Company, National Film Studio Belarusfilm, Belarusian Union of Cinematographers. The festival is held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Belarus.

The festival is accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as a competition festival among the films from the Baltic states, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe.