"A performance dedicated to the institute's history and its modern heroes and phenomena of our filmmaking culture will be shown in the Rossiya concert hall," VGIK rector Alexander Novikov told a press conference on Thursday.
Many documents will be used for this purpose, he said. VGIK graduates of many generations from Russia, former Soviet republic and other countries will gather in the concert hall, Mr. Novikov added.
In addition to contest shows, the festival's program includes a retrospective of student and graduation films by famous filmmakers, such as Andrzej Wajda, Martin Scorcese, Emir Kusturica, Wim Wenders, Krzysztof Zanussi, Jiri Menzel, Francois Ozon and others.
A research conference dedicated to the 75th birth anniversary of outstanding actor, film director and writer Vasily Shukshin (d. 1974) will be held as part of the festival. Moreover, the program includes a master-class on digital filmmaking and a roundtable on legal and financial aspects of modern Russian cinematography. Producer of Night Watch blockbuster Alexei Kublitsky will answer students' questions.
The jury comprises prominent masters and former students. Among them are director of The Kidnappers of Books Leonid Rybakov, Boomer and Boomer-2 script writer Denis Rodimin, Sanzhira photography director Alexei Todorov and actress Anna Mikhalkova.
Heads of over 20 cinematography education establishments from 16 countries will be the festival's guests.
The festival will see two premieres. The first one is the Russian-German project 'Chekhov Heroes on the Screen', six short films made by students of the Konrad Wolf school for film and television and the All-Russia State Cinematography Institute. The second premiere is a new series of films as part of the Changing Worlds project launched by VGIK and the Utrecht High Arts School (Netherlands).
The second volume of "The VGIK History", a special issue of the Kinovedcheskiye Zapiski historical-theoretical journal (cinematography studies) and collections of students' works "The School of Vision" and "Films of the Epoch of Change" will be published. These anniversary publications are sponsored by the federal agency for culture and cinematography.
