Photo: Ulyana MAKHKAMOVA.
Difficult times produce strong people. The validity of this quote from Plato was demonstrated at the opening of the documentary film festival on RT channel. Since the beginning of SVO, the channel has produced 120 films dedicated to the events and heroes of the special operation.
The festival was opened by the channel’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. The premiere film was a documentary by military correspondent Olga Kiriy about the residents of Avdeevka who survived the Nazi occupation, but awaited liberation.
In addition to the screening of the film and video clips, poems dedicated to the Northern Military District were read at the opening. They were read by famous artists (recorded) and by the authors themselves. The organizers of the festival admitted that poetry is not a specialized activity for a television company. But the attention paid to it underlined the significance of the special operation being conducted. This is a struggle for the preservation and development of Russian culture. Poetry is a high language. And on the other side of the line is the complete abolition of language.
Photo: Ulyana MAKHKAMOVA.
The organizers of the festival managed to bring together such different poets as Dmitry Melnikov, Anna Dolgareva, Olga Starrushko and the writer Dmitry Filippov, a participant in the special operation with the call sign “Leader”, who arrived on vacation near Avdeevka. Even the hero of Mariupol, sailor Anton Filimonov with the call sign “Rokot”, who lost a leg and went on stage with a prosthesis, read his own poems.
Larisa Dolina and the group “Zveroboy”, which has been performing regularly in Donbass since 2015, performed songs. Their song “My homeland is returning” became one of the unofficial anthems of the Northern Military District.
Photo: Ulyana MAKHKAMOVA.
The festival will run from 29 to 30 June. The programme includes documentary dramas and investigative films, communication with the authors and characters of the films, debates and round tables.
Location: Moscow, VDNH, Hall 75.
