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Moscow International Film Festival to screen 212 films from 67 countries

The main program includes 16 pictures

MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The program for the 40th Moscow International Film Festival will include 212 films, President of the festival and renowned Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov said on Thursday during a press conference timed for the festival’s opening.

"In total, there are 212 pictures from 67 countries," Mikhalkov noted. Last year, the festival featured 246 films, and 175 films were shown the year before.

Usually, the Moscow International Film Festival takes place in summer. "We moved the festival back to April because of the FIFA World Cup. The festival was in danger of being cancelled, but we managed to move it to April," Mikhalkov stressed. "We’ll see, it’s difficult to make predictions, but there are certain benefits to changing the date."

The Russian director noted that this year "there are many world premieres in the festival’s program, and the number of different programs has also grown." According to Mikhalkov, in addition to the main program and the documentary film competition, the festival includes special projects, "provocative" programs, and retrospective films. He specifically mentioned movies by female directors. "The matriarchy is upon us," Mikhalkov asserted.

Moscow will host the 2018 Moscow International Film Festival, which runs until April 26. The jury of the festival is made up of Actress Nastassja Kinski (Germany), Director Anna Melikyan (Russia), Actor John Savage (USA), Director Liang Qiao (China). Italian Producer Paolo Del Brocco serves as chairman of the jury.

The main program includes 16 pictures. One of them, "Naples in Veils", will open the film festival. That said, the Canadian criminal drama "Identity" directed by Samuel Thivierge will wrap up the festival.