Russian Film Week: the Big Launch
Russian Film Week has opened on Sunday, 19th November with a screening of a sci-fi film “Attraction” by Fedor Bondarchuk at the Science Museum IMAX with an after-party in the museum’s fantastic interiors. The director himself was there to present his new feature and answer questions, first at the press conference, and later at a sold out public screening.
The speakers at the press-conference were Filip Perkon and Masha Alexandrova of the Russian Film Week, as well as the “Attraction” UK distributor Mirza-Javed, Director of Bill Melendez Productions and Lucy Sargent, Head of Philanthropy at WWF, one of the festival’s partneрс.
The RFW founder Filip Perkon made a brief presentation having mentioned that the festival has doubled in size compared to the previous year - both in terms of screenings and the number of satellite events: masterclasses, exhibitions, talks. He also thanked the sponsors, which include the festival co–producer Synergy University, Gazprom Marketing and Trading, Waterstones, Blavatnik Family Foundation, Cultural Solidarity Madia and Eastern Seasons.
RFW partners list has also grown and has added this year BFI, Picturehouses, Curzon among many others. Every year Russian Film Week supports a charity organization. 2017 is the Ecology Year in Russia, so WWF has become a partner, which the festival is very proud of. Lucy Sargent stressed in her speech the importance of this collaboration that is aimed at raising funds for the WWF UK program to protect the Amur tigers in Russia.
For Mirza-Javed “Attraction” has become his first Russian film distribution experience. He shared that the film hooked him from the very first minutes with its focus on people rather than action, its universality and the high quality of CGI. Fedor Bondarchuk told the audience how the idea for the film came up – it was inspired by the 2013 riots in Moscow, where there was an aggressive confrontation between locals and immigrants. The sci-fi genre about ‘aliens’ invading the city has become a metaphor to discuss the very real issues that we face every day in today’s world.
The screening was followed by an after-party in the main gallery of the museum with drinks, that included unusual blue champagne provided by Eden and canapés and DJ Sergey Mongayt’s playing a space-inspired set-list that was specially prepared for the occasion.
Further screenings and events info: http://www.russianfilmweek.
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