Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 13 November (BelTA) - Movies of the national competition at the Minsk International Cinema Festival Listapad 2015 correspond to European standards, the member of the jury of the national competition Volker Petzold (Germany) said during the roundtable to discuss Belarusian cinema, BelTA has learned.

Volker Petzold thanked for the invitation to take part in the festival and noted that he was very excited about the opportunity to see Belarusian films: animation, feature and documentary movies. "This is not my first visit to Belarus. I attended Listapad several times, most recently seven years ago. I saw Belarusian films before. But what I saw during these days left a very good impression on me. The national program on this forum features different styles, different themes, different authors. I think the movies we have seen correspond to European standards. In terms of quality they are no different from those that are made in Europe," the jury member said.

The guest admitted that he loved working on the jury together with its President Igor Avdeyev (Belarus) and Dita Rietuma (Latvia). "We had a mutual understanding. In principle, we liked all movies but there were some special which we will award prizes," said Volker Petzold.

The winning movies will be announced tonight. The award ceremony will take place at the Moskva cinema house.

The 22nd Minsk International Film Festival Listapad opened on 6 and wil close on 13 November 2015. It is dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the world cinema and is held under the slogan of Eye of Pleasure. The program of the festival included 184 films from 60 countries (91 feature and 70 nonfiction films, 23 animated pictures).

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 main organizer of the festival is the center of visual and performing arts "ART Corporation”. 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.