Moscow Int'l Film Fest to Kick Off on June 21

MOSCOW – On June 21, the Moscow International Film Festival’s 34th edition is to kick off in the Russian capital, with about 400 films to be screened as part of its more than 20 sections.

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The festival’s official selection features 16 movies, which are to compete for the main prize, the Golden St George. The highest profile director, whose film is included in the official selection, is Hungarian veteran István Szabó with the movie Az ajtó (The Door).

Among the official selection’s other highlights are Junkhearts by British director Tinge Krishnan, Orda (The Horde) by Russia’s Andrei Proshkin, and Growing in the Wind by Iranian director Rahbar Ghanbari

The Perspectives program, which is to be devoted to young filmmakers and experimental works, features, among others, Garbage by American director Phil Volken and the three-part U.S./Russian/Polish film Fourth Dimension, with the segments directed by Harmony Korine, Alexei Fedorchenko and Jan Kwiecinski, respectively.

This year, a new section, 49 Mest (49 Seats), is to be inaugurated, focused on the most experimental fare, which is to be screened in the original language, with no translation or subtitles.

Among the festival’s retrospectives are those of works by Hong Kong-based director Yonfan and Ernst Lubitsch, the 1920s to 1940s German/American director.

The section Universal Pictures Golden Collection is to feature such classics as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Birds and Spartacus.

MIFF’s opening night movie is to be Roman Prygunov’s Dukhless and the closing-night film is to be Les bien-aimis (Beloved) by French director Christophe Honoré. One of the film’s stars, Catherine Deneuve, is expected to show up in Moscow to pick up the Stanislavsky lifetime achievement award.

The main competition’s jury, which includes Brazilian director Hector Babenco, Russian director Sergei Loban, Italian producer Adriana Chiesa di Palma, Bulgarian director Javor Gardev and French actor/director Jean-Marc Barr, is to announce the winners at the closing ceremony on June 30.