HAIKOU /China/, December 2. /TASS/. Russia will present two short films at the 6th annual Hainan International Film Festival (HIFF) to compete for the Golden Coconut Award, the festival organizers said.

Russia will present two new 2024 films called "Fence" by director Lev Evlampiev and "Murmur of August" by Daur Ladaria as part of the 10 films competing for the award in the corresponding segment, the festival's WeChat page wrote. The remaining eight short works were submitted by Argentina, China and Japan, as well as by international collaborative groups from several countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Italy.

Earlier, Chen Jiyang, deputy head of the press office of the Publicity Department of the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary General of the HIFF, said that the festival, which will be held on the island from December 4 to 10, has received submissions for more than 4,300 films from 117 countries and regions. The event, the main opening ceremony of which will be held on December 6, is organized under the theme "From Oceans, With Visions".

This year's Golden Coconut Award competition is divided into three categories - feature films (about 900), documentaries (about 400) and short films (about 3,000). The jury will be headed by French director Luc Besson.

The organizers have established 10 awards - Best Film, Jury Award, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenwriter, Best Visual Effects, Best Chinese Film Contribution, Best Documentary and Best Short Film. In addition, the most impressive documentary and short film will each receive an award.

HIFF is recognized as one of the four major film festivals in the People's Republic of China, and will be held for the first time in December 2018. It has hosted world-renowned actors and directors such as Jackie Chan, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. In 2021, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. The fifth Hainan Film Festival was held from December 16 to 22, 2023.