Mass Media Overview
"Voices" Festival: films of the unsatisfied heart
21.07.2011 11:23
The Voice of Russiahttp://english.ruvr.ru
Jul 6, 2011
The brilliant Italian actress Claudia Cardinale has become the muse for the Festival of Young European Cinema "Voices" which will be held in the old Russian city of Vologda between the 5th and 10th of July. Other distinguished Italian film- makers, such as the Taviani brothers, well-known Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi and Russian director Alexander Sokurov are expected to attend the festival.
This is only the second "Voices" festival. But due to its good start last year it seems to have acquired film-makers' trust. The festival aims for independent cinema and a wide circle of European film-makers who work in this segment. 10 films will be taking part in the competition, said the "Voices" programme director Igor Guskov in his interview for The Voice of Russia. "The north of Europe is represented by Sweden, the south by Italy, Greece and Slovenia, the west by France, Ireland and the UK and the east by Poland. We have an artistic approach to the selection of films," Igor Guskov pointed out.
"We are a young and mobile team, - Igor Guskov says. – We attend international festivals looking for interesting films. How do we select films? We watch them and love them, or do not love them. If we love them, if they make our hearts beat faster and empathize, this means that they are films for the "Voices" festival. I would say that these are films of the unsatisfied heart".
Still, it is one thing to choose films and another thing to persuade the producers to send the films to the festival. Moreover, according to the rules, only Russian premieres of foreign films take part in the "Voices" competition.
"This is a very difficult task, - Igor Guskov agrees. – Fortunately, last year's festival was a success and some information reached film distributors, producers and directors, and this year it was easier for us to obtain films. We are organizing Russian premieres for two very strong films that everybody will be talking about in autumn and winter. They are "The Guard" by John McDonagh from Ireland, an ironical comedy with every chance of becoming a hit, and the British "Tyrannosaurus", a debut of famous Hollywood actor Paddy Considine, the strongest debut this year, in my opinion." Announcer: The film "Indifference" by Oleg Flyangolts will represent Russia at the festival. This film has already been awarded the Grand Prix at the Russian Kinotavr festival.