MOSCOW, 5 Sept. The Kazan International Muslim Film Festival will open on Tuesday, the press service of the festival reported.
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"The competition program included 52 films from 21 countries: Russia, Iran, Syria, India, Iraq, Morocco, Tajikistan, Turkey, Greece, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, Senegal, Nepal, Kazakhstan , Egypt, Algeria. Ten films each were presented in the nominations «Full-length feature films», «Short feature films», «Full-length documentaries» and «Short Documentary Films», 12 more films — in the national competition, which will show films of Tatarstan production,» the message says.
The competition program of the festival includes Russian and foreign paintings reflecting universal spiritual and moral values and cultural traditions, carrying the ideas of peacemaking, religious tolerance and humanism.
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"These are mainly family films that support and develop family values, films that put human relationships at the forefront. Even if films appear in the program that are not directly related to Muslim issues, they meet universal ethical and moral standards. The festival is open. An important criterion is the ethics and morality that these paintings carry in their main message,” the press service of the chairman of the selection committee Nina Kochelyaeva quotes.
According to the press service, this year, for the first time, the Deputy Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (DUM) of the Russian Federation, Rushan Abbyasov, became a member of the selection committee.
The international jury was chaired by Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Toure, who has more than 50 feature and documentary films to his credit. The Board also included director Mukhtar Lajimi from Tunisia, Turkish actor Renan Bilek, Georgian film critic Dali Okropiridze, film critic, screenwriter from Egypt Walid Seif, Secretary General of the Association of New Cinema of France and China Bushaib El Messaudi, Azerbaijani director Fariz Akhmedov, director of the Saudi Film Festival Mamdukh Salem.
Kazan International Muslim Film Festival has been held in the capital of Tatarstan since 2005. The first festival was organized on the initiative of the Council of Muftis of Russia, the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan with the support of the head of the region. The film forum in Kazan is held under the motto «Through the dialogue of cultures to the culture of dialogue». The president of the festival is Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Russia.
In 2022, the Grand Prix of the Kazan Film Festival was awarded to the Iranian film «Quiet Glory» by Nahid Hassanzadeh. In addition to the Grand Prix, the film also won the NETPAC Jury Prize, the Asian Film Promotion Network.