There was a breath of freshness from the “Window to Europe” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 141 (7342) of 08/05/2022

On August 5, the XXX Russian Film Festival “Window to Europe” opens in Vyborg, which will last until August 10 and will show 80 films, including Vyborg hits of past years. In the main competition program, in accordance with the festival slogan “Russian Cinema – Forecast for Tomorrow”, the emphasis is on debut films. comments Yulia Shagelman.

The Window to Europe will be opened by Alexei Fedorchenko’s documentary “The Coin of the Country of Malawi”, dedicated to Vasily Shukshin, which was included in the non-fiction film competition. The author himself calls it a “comedy-requiem”. This is not a biopic, but a study of the real cult of the Soviet director, actor and writer, which has developed in his small homeland, in the Altai Territory. Strange at first glance, the name of the painting is based on a real and slightly curious story: on the 80th anniversary of Shukshin, in 2009, at the initiative of the Altai branch of Sberbank, the German Mint minted a special gold coin, but it was issued by the African state of Malawi, where the late hero of the day, of course, never been.

The competition program of the festival, as always, consists of three sections: feature films, documentary and animation. Aleksey Fedorchenko headed the jury of the first of them (I would like to hope that this will not interfere with the objectivity of his colleagues who will evaluate non-fiction films). Together with him, producer Elena Glikman, actress Ingrid Olerinskaya, journalist Susanna Alperina and cameraman Yuri Lyubshin will have to choose the best of eleven films.

This year’s gaming competition is distinguished by two features: most of the films in it are debuts – there are eight of them, of which six are directed by women directors. This fully corresponds to the words of the organizers of Window to Europe about openness to new things and the desire to fix, and possibly even determine, trends in the development of domestic auteur cinema. Previously, Kinotavr took on this task – perhaps it was precisely its absence on the festival map of this year that contributed to the fact that the Vyborg program looks fresher than ever. This is probably the merit of Andrey Apostolov, the new program director of Window to Europe, who was also responsible for filling the Gorky fest festival in Nizhny Novgorod.

Another trend is the reflection of young filmmakers on the topic of self-determination of young people, their search for themselves and their place in modern Russian reality. This topic is developed in one way or another by five competitive films: “1000 Cheap Lighters” by Irina Obidova about youthful rebellion, “Emperor” by Alfiya Khabibullina about the adaptation of a teenager in a new school, “On the Eve” by Alisa Erokhina about the conflict of generations, “Velga” by Anastasia Nechaeva and “Mittelmarsh » Sophia Meledina about first love and the experiences associated with it.

Among the Vyborg debutants there are those whose names are already familiar to those who follow Russian festivals. Tamara Dondurei, whose documentaries “21 Days” and “New Moscow” participated in Kinotavr in different years, will present her first feature film “Nearby” about the crisis of 30-year-olds. Igor Poplaukhin, who won second place in the Cinefondation competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and won at Kinotavr with the short film Calendar, brought to Vyborg the film White Light Converged on You, dedicated to the cult singer Yanka Diaghileva. Another favorite of Kinotavr, Ruslan Bratov (his short film won in Sochi in 2017) is participating in the competition with the adventurous film Express about a guy who is incredibly lucky in sports betting.

Also participating in the competition are three “veteran” directors whose films have become festival laureates in different years. The new film by the Yakut director Dmitry Davydov, the author of the titled “Scarecrow”, is called “Songs of Summer”. This is a fabulous ethno-phantasmagoria based on the Sakha folklore. “Waves” by Mikhail Brashinsky is a gloomy drama about a man who, after a personal tragedy, fell into a totalitarian sect. Yusup Razykov’s film “Live a Long Time” tells about a mysterious series of deaths in a provincial town and the mental turmoil of a policeman investigating them.

The festival will close with another directorial debut — the drama The Season of Winter, staged by actress Svetlana Ustinova, about the difficult relationship between a mother and an adult daughter. In addition, several interesting premieres will take place as part of the Window to Europe, including Avdotya Smirnova’s new film The Carpenter. And the retrospective “30 years in three sessions” will remind you of the long history of the festival, which, judging by its program, feels quite cheerful, despite its advanced age.