Journey Through Russia film festival opens in Moscow

The Journey Through Russia film festival will take place in February at the Kosmos and Zvezda theatres in Moscow. The programme will include documentaries and feature films about the different parts of Russia, meetings with directors and film crews, ecologists and travelers. The festival will be held as part of the Year of the Environment in Russia. Admission to all events is free.

The show programme includes the following sections – The Centenary of Russia’s Nature Reserves, The Russian Arctic, Multiethnic Russia, and meetings with experts.

The festival will open on 1 February at Zveada where the documentary 24 Snows directed by Mikhail Barynin will be shown. This film won the Audience Choice Award at the 38th Moscow International Film Festival, was nominated for Golden Globe and Berlinale awards. The film took over two years to make. It is about a horse breeder who spends most of his time in the tundra, and the daily struggle for survival. The film’s director will meet with the audience after the show, which starts at 8 pm.

On 5 February, Zvezda will feature the theatrical release of the journey documentary Kuvayev’s Territory. This film is about the continuity of times: the development of Chukotka in the post-war years as described in Oleg Kuvayev’s novel The Territory, and the present state of affairs. The audience will be able to discuss the film with director Svetlana Bychenko, will see singer Olga Dzusova’s performance and attend the opening of the geologists’ photo display, Our Territory. The show starts at 6 pm (please arrive at 5.30 pm).

Shows and events programme

The Centenary of Russia’s Nature Reserves

− 14 February, 8 pm, Zvezda: premiere of Orenburgsky Nature Reserve: The Steppe in League with Wild Ungulates, and a meeting with the press secretary of the Orenburg Region Reserves federal state agency, Natalia Sudets;

− 16 February, 7 pm,  Kosmos (small hall): meeting with the deputy director for environmental education of the Oka Reserve, Marina Didorchuk, and the Oka and the Baikal Biospheric Reserves programme including films by Mikhail and Yelena Chumak;

− 25 February,  7 pm, Kosmos (small hall): the programme of the Katun, Kerzhensky and the Curonian Spit Reserves. Shows and meetings with the makers of the film Keepers (directed by Polina Belaya), Early Spring on Wood Grouse Lekking Ground (directed by Yelena Korshunova).

The Russian Arctic

− 6 February, 8 pm, Zvezda: meeting with Lennauchfilm director and cameraman Sergei Tsikhanovich, and the film Lake into Sea about a unique lake on an island in the White Sea;

− 9 February, 8 pm, Zvezda: Ksenia Korystova’s films Betrothed to the Arctic, In the Footsteps of the Two Captains, a meeting with director Ksenia Fershter, development director of the Wildlife club Marina Patsai, the film stars and members of Polar expeditions;

− 18 February, 7 pm, Kosmos (small hall): parts of the film Cool Guys from Tikhaya Bay, a meeting with Boris Amarov who directed several films about the Russian Arctic reserve and screenwriter Snezhana Krasinskaya.

Multiethnic Russia

− 10 February, 7 pm, Kosmos (small hall): winner of over 10 international film festivals, documentary The Eagle Dance, and a meeting with the directors, Yelena and Viktor Alfyorov;

− 17 February, 7 pm, Kosmos (small hall): a meeting with the Faces of Russia project producer Alexei Merkulov, moments from films about the Finno-Ugric peoples and shorts directed by Ivan Golovnyov: Little Katerina, Deposit, and Guest.

Heroes of our time series of meetings

− 12 February, 7 pm Kosmos (small hall): a meeting with Andrei Kamenev, traveler, chief photographer of the National Geographic Russia magazine , co-founder of the Planetpics science and education portal, the organiser and participant of more than 30 research expeditions;

− 15 February, 8 pm, Zvezda: a meeting with Sergei Naidenko, PhD, lead researcher at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS, a researcher who has been studying and preserving rare species of tigers, polar bears and Pallas' cats;

− 28 February, 7 pm, Kosmos (big hall): a meeting with Timofei Bazhenov, a Russian TV journalist, zoologist, specialist in survival, author and host of The Wild World, Bazhenov’s Tales and Bazhenov Rating shows.

The programme may change; the updated schedule will be available at mos-kino.ru.