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Moscow International Film Festival to feature films from over 60 countries this year

Motion pictures from Russia, Japan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Serbia, Argentina and other countries will vie for the main Golden Saint George award

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Boris Khlebnikov's new film, "Snegir," will open the international film festival in Moscow on Thursday where some 200 movies from 60 countries will be screened.

The main competition program of the 45th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), which runs until April 27, will feature 11 films from Russia, Japan, Mexico, and Serbia among other countries. Ahead of opening day, prominent film director and MIFF president Nikita Mikhalkov will give a traditional press briefing.

"Snegir," the opening film, tells the story of a fishing vessel that is caught in a storm. It will be released in theaters on June 8. The closing film, "The Final Game," by Alex Murull and Dani de la Orden is a dramatization of the Spanish water polo team’s trials and tribulations at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

The jury, led by Indian film director Rahul Rawail, will also include Russian actor Alexey Guskov, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, Kazakh actress Samal Yeslyamova, who won the Best Actress award at the 71st Cannes Film Festival for her role in "Ayka," Colombian film director and screenwriter Ciro Guerra, and Russian actress Svetlana Ivanova.

Motion pictures from Russia, Japan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Serbia, Argentina and other countries will vie for the main Golden Saint George award.

"This year, the festival’s geography expanded by about 10% with the addition of more than 20 new countries, both friendly and unfriendly ones. Latin America has a greater footprint in this year’s event, adding diversity to film art from India, China and Iran - countries that traditionally participate in the festival," Ivan Kudryavtsev, who heads the MIFF Selection Commission, told TASS.

The Moscow Film Festival was first held in 1935. In 1995, it was announced that the festival would become an annual event, but it did not take place in 1996 and 1998. Since 1999, the MIFF has been held every year. Up to 2017, it was held at the end of June, starting in 2018 it was held in mid-April, and in 2022 the festival took place from August 26 to September 2.

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