Festival's Program Director Sergei Lavrentyev told RIA Novosti that this year's festival marks its tenth anniversary. Sixteen movies, presented by cinematographers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iran, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries participated in the competition. According to Mr. Lavrentyev, the organizers of the current festival managed to gather the movies that "combine high artistic quality with scandalous attributes." Nevertheless, those who reject scandal as an intrinsic part of "love movies," Mr. Lavrentyev stressed, would be delighted and moved by such "quiet" movies as Beneath Her Window (Slovenia) and Cat Left Home (Japan).
An authoritative panel of judges, headed by British actress Brenda Blethyn will determine the best movies of the festival. Brenda Blethyn has been nominated for an Oscar; she is a laureate of the Golden Globe Award and the British Academy of Cinema Award. A famous Kevin Spacey movie Beyond the Sea, where the British actress plays one of the parts, will be shown at the opening of the festival on March 8.
Apart from the competition, the program of the festival includes the retrospective showing of movies in the form of a name game. The first part is called "Love and....," and the second - "...and Love." And another retrospective, which is absolutely unusual and will be a present not only for viewers, but also the organizers of the festival on the 10th anniversary, is called "Joe D'Amato. In memory of a prankster." The selection of the movies for this retrospective showing includes the works of famous Italian master of erotic cinema Aristide Massaccesi, known by his stage-name Joe D'Amato.
