Traditionally, this will begin with the presentation of film projects on Baikal. As it became known, the short list included 10 cinematographic works: 5 documentaries and 5 feature films. His defense will take place on September 20 at the Casa del Cine.
On September 21, master classes by filmmakers from Moscow and Irkutsk will be held in the Small Hall of the House of Cinema, intended for participants in pitching, as well as all those interested in modern film production.
The grand opening of the festival will take place on September 21 at the Casa de la Juventud. There the names of the winning pitchers will be announced. Next, viewers will see the documentary “At the Shaolin Temple” directed by Sun Hongyun (China, 2022).
The main program includes 35 competitive works from 17 countries and 10 non-competitive ones. These are documentaries, fiction, popular science and animated films about environmental problems and the relationship between man and the environment. The jury of the film forum will be chaired by producer and executive director of the Youth Center of the Union of Filmmakers of Russia, Dmitry Yakunin.
Documentary cinema is the main trend of the festival. According to the festival’s press service, this year’s competition program features films with very different themes. There is a reflection film on the meaning of existence directed by Valeria Popova “The Grandfather”, which is based on the story of an 80-year-old hermit hunter. An interesting work is “Volcano Blues” by Ilya Zheltyakov about the research of volcanologists who for many years have tried to understand what happens inside the “living mountains.” The film “Shishkinsky Pisanitsy” by Irkutsk author Yulia Byvsheva is about a unique archaeological monument located in the north of the Angara region.
The works of Spanish filmmakers are interesting, they immerse the viewer in the world of living nature and force him to associate this world with the social relationships of people. The film by Dutch authors presents the problem of global warming in a non-trivial way, the symbol of which is some skates hanging inactively from a green tree. In their film about the destruction of wolves, Slovenian filmmakers talk about the inadmissibility of solving environmental problems from political positions.
A competitive and non-competitive fulldome film program will also be presented. The jury will be chaired by director and cameraman Vladimir Marin (Moscow).
Festival awards are presented to the winners of five categories: the Mikhail Romm Award for best documentary film; Ivan Chersky Award for the best popular science film; Leonid Gaidai Award for Best Feature Film; Don Otelo Award for best full-length film and award for best animated film. In addition, the jury awards the Baikal Prize to the film that most acutely presents current environmental problems. Participants also receive special prizes: youth jury, media community, audience prize.
The organizers of the Baikal International Film Festival “Man and Nature” are the Irkutsk Regional Film Fund, LLC “Irkutskkino”, ANO “Kinoforum”.
The winners of each category will receive 300 thousand rubles from the Irkutsk Regional Film Fund. This year, for the first time, a special award named after Leonid Gaidai was approved, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Irkutsk region, in the amount of 100 thousand rubles (certificate of technical support for the project).
Direct speech
Nikita Mikhalkov, director, president of the Union of Filmmakers of Russia:
“A special place is occupied by film festivals that raise environmental issues. Our planet is on the brink of destruction! Not only the continents, but also the world’s oceans, atmosphere and space suffer from pollution. Environmental issues are directly related to the survival of humanity “Documentary filmmakers talk about this in the language of cinema and send an alarm signal to millions of people to save our Earth.”
Sergei Miroshnichenko, director, president of the Man and Nature film festival:
“To draw attention to environmental problems and form the position of a citizen responsible for the fate of his country and the planet as a whole, unite and encourage filmmakers to create films about the relationship between man and nature, develop creative connections Among filmmakers and viewers, as well as within the film community of Russia and other countries, these goals were initially set by the organizers of the film festival “Man and Nature”, and now for the 22nd time we proclaim them in soil of Irkutsk. This year, more than 900 works from 72 countries of the world were submitted to the competition, which indicates great interest in the topic of ecology throughout the planet and great concern for the future of humanity.
Data
According to the festival organizers, this year the largest number of works from India, Iran, Latin America, especially Brazil and Argentina, entered the competition. Among European countries, France and Germany lead, among African countries, Nigeria, Algeria and South Africa. Filmmakers from Türkiye and Spain showed great interest in the festival. Works were sent from the United States, Tunisia, the Netherlands, Iraq, French Polynesia and Thailand. Russian filmmakers participated more actively in the forum competition.
