“First of all, thanks and a huge bow to those who are there now: who fight, shed blood, who endure, wait, fight for us.
About them, about their feat, about every second and minute of this year, a difficult, disturbing and cleansing year at the same time - this festival and all the films that you will see here, ”said Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the RT channel, in her video message at the opening ceremony festival.
“Now making documentary films is especially important.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of fakes, manipulation and post-truth, which is why documentary filmmakers have not only a great honorable mission, but also a huge responsibility,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“These films tell about the difficult struggle of people for the honor of our Motherland, for the right to be happy in spite of everything.
These works are as important for contemporaries as they will be needed for posterity.
I am very glad that a number of films presented at the festival were included in our program of distribution in modernized cinema halls, thanks to the national project “Culture,” said Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova.
Ekaterina Yakovleva, head of RT documentary broadcasting and general producer of the aRTel.doc: Time of Heroes festival, spoke about the festival program: “We will show 25 films about the heroes of the NWO who are writing our history right now.
Among them are the stories of the military, doctors of medical teams, women, volunteers, military correspondents, ordinary residents of Donbass, who are under shelling every day.”
The guests honored the memory of the fallen heroes of the NMD with a minute of silence.
The hall applauded the participants of the special military operation who attended the opening ceremony: Anton Filimonov - call sign Rokot, Marine Corps officer, holder of the Order of Courage;
Ruslan Lesnov - call sign Les, deputy commander of the Vostok battalion;
Anna Ilyasova, callsign Belka, deputy company commander of a rifle battalion;
Marcel Khafizov - call sign Kazan, senior lieutenant of a tank battalion.
The opening film was the film “Boys of the Vostok Battalion” by directors and authors of the RT documentary channel Oleg Nekishev, Mikhail Burov and Olga Kiriy.
In the center of the plot is the story of a few days in the life of the fighters who have been defending the independence of Donbass for nine years.
“We felt incredible admiration and pride when we worked on this project.
We are happy that we live at the same time with real heroes, with whom it is not scary.
And today we are glad to show you this particular picture - honest and real, ”said one of the film’s directors, Oleg Nekishev.
Ruslan Lesnov, deputy company commander of the Vostok battalion, after watching the film, said: “The life and hard work that the guys have to do every day was really shown in the film exactly as it is.
No pretty picture.
There was a case when we were surrounded for almost a month.
It was during the storming of the Vostochny microdistrict in Mariupol.
They burned in the fire twice and jumped out of the windows of the fourth floor.”
At the opening ceremony, the musical work of the Russian neoclassical composer Igor Skvortsov "Time" was also performed by the MUSACULA chamber orchestra.
Poems in support of the heroes of the SVO were presented by poets Olesya Shigina, Dmitry Melnikov, Maria Vatutina.
The guests of the evening shared their impressions.
Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus: “The real heroes are those to whom this festival is dedicated.
It is very important to make the kind of cinema that is presented at this festival today.
It was created not only by those people who have been working on it for the last year.
Here are those who have been doing it all nine years.”
Actress, TV presenter and public figure Yana Poplavskaya: “This year was very difficult for the whole country.
Heavy from all sides - physically and mentally.
But the hardest thing is for those guys who are now far away from us.
Protect our independence and freedom.
It is they who can rightfully call themselves the heroes of the NWO.”
Within the framework of the festival, an exhibition of the Russian artist Marina Lizorkina “Memory in Stone” dedicated to the demolition of Russian and Soviet monuments was opened.
Graphic novels about the exploits of the heroes of the SVO, written by students of the Synergy University, were also presented.
As part of the aRTel.doc: Time of Heroes festival, there will also be discussions with project creators, round tables, pitching for young documentary filmmakers, master classes, open lectures and meetings with industry leaders.
The festival will run until February 26th.
The festival program and registration is available at the link - https://arteldocfest.com/.
The media partners of the festival are RIA Novosti news agency, Komsomolskaya Pravda media group, Spas TV channel, Argumenty i Fakty publishing house, Synergy University, Ratnik TV channel, Sputnik radio and Paragraph Media.
aRTel.doc is the RTDoc (RT Documentary Broadcasting) platform for sharing experiences with RT professionals, master classes and lectures from the best documentarians in the world.
On the basis of aRTel.doc, a non-fiction film school, a film club, and now a film festival have been created.
Over the years of broadcasting, the 24/7 documentary channel RTDoc has released more than 1,000 documentaries, many of which have won prestigious international awards, including New York Festivals, Telly Awards and OMNI Intermedia Awards.
The RT international television network includes news channels in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, German and the RTD documentary channel in Russian and English. The TV network also includes online portals in seven languages, including Serbian and Russian, and the global multimedia agency RUPTLY, which offers exclusive content to TV channels around the world. In 2020, RT became the first news channel in the world to reach 10 billion views on YouTube, ahead of BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Euronews, FOX News. RT is the only Russian TV channel that has been nominated eleven times for the prestigious Emmy award.