The 17th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival will take place from 5 to 10 September this year.
The organizing committee accepted 584 applications from 45 countries of the world. The selection committee selected 50 films in the nominations “fiction full-length film”, “documentary full-length film”, “fiction short film”, “documentary short film” and “national competition”. There was one Tatarstan film in each of the nominations.
The festival will feature films from Russia, France, Spain, China, Belgium, Japan, Qatar, Bulgaria, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
This year, a diverse competitive program of feature films has developed, which includes stories of crossing borders, living in a borderline state, accepting or rejecting someone else. Traditionally, many works were sent from Iran and Turkey, as well as from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan.
A complete list of the films included in the short-list of the festival can be found here.
The judges’ chairs will be occupied by Elchin Musaoglu (chairman of the jury, Azerbaijan), Jerome Ammadi (Morocco), Fajr Yakub (Sweden), Almohammad Kalkhom (Syria), Bakhyt Kairbekov (Kazakhstan), Valeria Baykeeva (Russia), Kamal Svarup (India), Sayed Nejati (Iran), Selim Bayraktar (Turkey), Ashraf Dali (Egypt).
For the first time in the history of the festival, the documentary “Chingiz Aitmatov. Days and Centuries ”directed by Grigory Nakhapetov.
“The picture reveals the unknown facts of the life of Chingiz Aitmatov. But most importantly, the picture refers to a topic that was raised by Aitmatov himself at the Issyk-Kul forum back in 1986: the responsibility of leading politicians, science and culture for the fateful processes taking place in the world in establishing a dialogue between East and West. The topic is extremely relevant today, ”said Milyausha Aituganova, director of the State Budgetary Institution of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan“ Tatarkino ”, at a press conference at the Tatar-inform news agency.
As noted by Aituganova, the Regional Film Market will be held for the first time within the framework of the project. It will bring together representatives of regional film studios, distribution companies, independent filmmakers and producers who are interested in regional cinema.
“As part of the business program, we would like to see directors and producers of various film companies located in Russia in Kazan. The fact is that films are made on the territory of the Russian Federation that do not reach the viewer, since regional films usually do not get into federal distribution with rare exceptions. The super task of this film market is to create a catalog of regional films from which cinemas could choose the films they are interested in, ”said Aituganova.
Also, the Muslim Film Festival this year will become a platform for the II International Pitching of Film Projects.
“As a result of the first pitching, two film projects have already reached the audience. This year we continue to work in this direction. This pitching will also bring together those who want to co-produce with Tatarstan. Today we have 24 applications, ”Aituganova noted.
Also, during the days of the film festival, traditional business programs, master classes, panel discussions, an investment and presentation platform for partner film festivals and other events will be organized. Kazan State University of Culture and Arts will become the space for the parallel program.
Eminent artists will take part in the opening ceremonies (in the Kazan City Hall) and the closing (in the Pyramid recreation center) of the festival, who traditionally walk the red carpet. The films participating in the festival will be shown in the Rodina and Mir cinemas.
