YEKATERINBURG, August 29. /TASS/. The 5th International Festival of Debut Films of the Eurasian Continent, One-Sixth, has opened in Yekaterinburg, with films from more than 12 countries, master classes and meetings with prominent actors on the program, a TASS correspondent reports.

"People come because this is a place where a true debutante can find a basis for a second step. This festival isn’t about showing first works, but about inspiring second ones," festival director and president Yevgeny Grigoryev said at the opening ceremony.

He said this year’s festival is dedicated to teamwork, noting that film projects often bring together people who have never worked with one another before.

"We often believe in project-based approaches, and when you gather people for a project, there’s a grinding process; no one knows each other. Economically, it’s quite simple - you get them together, make a film, and then go your separate ways," Grigoryev said.

The opening ceremony featured the first Russian screening of Sasha Gromova’s Legend Without a Number. The film follows Ivan, a former football player who becomes a television presenter and humiliates a longtime rival - a lapta (Russian baseball) coach - on live television. To save his career, Ivan is forced to assemble his own team and win the match.

The festival will also hold a memorial day dedicated to director Alexey Balabanov on September 2. Guests will be presented with Balabanov Portrait, a new book by Andrey Zakhariev and Mikhail Volodin. A public reading of the script for the upcoming film Northerners is also planned.

The program includes master classes, meetings with film stars, as well as business and educational events.

The competition features 12 feature films, 12 documentaries and 12 animated films, including six Russian and six foreign entries in each category. Animation has been added to the competition for the first time this year. The lineup includes films from Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Singapore, France, Poland, Japan, India, Thailand, Belgium and other countries.

About the Festival

The festival was launched in 2022 on the initiative of the Sverdlovsk Film Studio with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Culture of the Sverdlovsk Region. The Innovative Cultural Center of the Sverdlovsk Region joined the festival’s organization in 2023.

Over its four-year history, the festival has attracted more than 28,000 spectators and hosted over 200 competition and special screenings in Yekaterinburg and across the Sverdlovsk Region.

TASS is the festival’s general information partner.