On Friday, August 26, the grand opening of the 44th Moscow International Film Festival will take place.

The review will open this year with the historical drama "The Heart of Parma" directed by Anton Megerdichev based on the novel of the same name by Alexei Ivanov.

The film unfolds the love story of two people from different nations and worlds.

The feelings of the Russian prince Mikhail and the young witch Tiche overcome all obstacles, but start the flywheel of fate.

Only the brave warrior Michael can now influence the fate of his native land.

This year's main competition program includes nine films from Russia, Sri Lanka, Romania, China, Serbia, Turkey, Germany and Slovenia.

The section also presents the Russian drama "Garden" by Larisa Sadilova about the life of women from the provinces who are fighting for their right to be happy and loved.

Also on the program is the Romanian film “The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness” by Cyprian Mega, where the former political prisoner becomes a symbol of the resistance of the common people, the film “Maria.

Angel of the Ocean" by Aruna Jayawardana (Sri Lanka) about a sex doll found in the sea that caused discord among sailors, and others.

  • © Shot from the film "Heart of Parma"

According to Ivan Kudryavtsev, chairman of the selection committee of the festival, the 44th MIFF is held under the motto "search and discovery", which means the search for new points of development in cinema and the discovery of products from new countries whose films participate in the festival.

“The geography of the main competition is great.

As you can see, there are Russian films here, as well as films from Eastern European countries - Serbia and Romania.

And films from Latin America will be presented in a very interesting way,” Yevgenia Tirdatova, a member of the selection committee, said at a TASS press conference.

This year the jury was chaired by People's Artist of Russia, actor Yevgeny Mironov ("Eye of God", "Time of the First"), winner of the "Grand Prix" and the Special Prize of the Geneva Film Festival "Young Stars of Europe", "TEFI", as well as a multiple winner the title of "Best Artist of the Year" according to film critics.

Also on the panel of judges are producer Tandy Davids (South Africa), cameraman Gayk Kirakosyan and Russian director Andrey Kravchuk.

The short films will be judged by Israeli director Gur Bentwich (chairman), producer and director Michelle Zampino from Italy and Russian actress Alexandra Rebenok.

The jury of the documentary film competition includes Malaysian screenwriter and director Wu-Wei Bin Haji Shaari (chairman), producer and director Natalya Gugueva from Russia, and Kazakh director Vladimir Tyulkin.

Among the competing films in the section are Andrey Ananin's Land of Great Opportunities about an American who became a preacher and farmer in Siberia, Chavdar Georgiev's Blue-Eyed Japanese, in which a native of Nizhny Tagil turns into a national hero of pre-war Japan, the Russian-French film Rock baritone" by Bertrand Norman, which reveals the story of the controversial rock opera performer Yevgeny Nikitin, as well as the film "Burning Ice" by Hanxiang Liu about young Beijing hockey players who dream of becoming professionals.

Also, Sergei Debizhev's painting "The Holy Archipelago" about the life of the Solovetsky monastery will compete for the prize.

  • © Shot from the filming of the film "Petropolis"

Among other things, this year's festival will present a new competition program called "Russian Premieres", the winner of which will receive a statuette of the "Silver St. George".

It includes seven films by Russian directors - "F20" by Arseny Gerasimov, "Mikulai" by Ilshat Rakhimbay, "Jeanne" by Konstantin Statsky, "Petropolis" by Valery Fokin, "A Similar Man" by Semyon Serzin, "Kat" by Boris Akopov and "Healthy Man" by Peter Todorovsky.

In total, about 230 films from 65 countries will be shown at the festival.

The greatest number of films was brought by cinematographers from India and France - 20 films each.

Many films will be shown in the out-of-competition sections, including "Wild Nights" with tapes that excite and "cause goosebumps." 

“We are following the example of the movie Wild Nights, which turns 30 this year.

This is a film that embodies frankness, risk, the search for the limits of the possible,” explained Yegor Moskvitin, curator of the film critic section, assuring that “there will be more genders in this section than in any other,” so it will meet all the requirements of modern cinema.

It will include nine films from Canada, the USA, Mexico, Western Europe, Asia and Russia.

Among them are the horror film The Sadness about lovers who are trying to find happiness in a city where chaos reigns due to a dangerous virus pandemic, the adventure film Polaris about a girl raised by polar bears, as well as a Russian film "I'm Going to Play" (#blue_whale), which explores the theme of a dangerous game called "The Blue Whale", is a gripping picture of "The Island Of Lost Girls", in which three young girls are trapped in a cave among dangerous marine life , and others. 

Also this year, the program of Iranian cinema "Persian motives" will be held.

Among other things, among the non-competitive sections - the program of short films "Shot Set", the series selection "First Series", "The Song of Indian Roads", dedicated to the cinema of India, "Blockbusters of the Nations of the World" with films that have won fame in their country, as well as sections "Festival Cocktail", "To the Anniversary of Andrei Konchalovsky", "Multiverse" with animated films for adults and children, and others.

The Moscow International Film Festival will run until September 2.

This year's show will be closed by the Korean detective film "The Decision to Leave" directed by Park Chan-wook, in which the detective investigates the death of a man who fell off a cliff.

The list of his main suspects includes the widow of the deceased.

And the more time the detective spends with her, the more he falls in love with her.