Kino Lokakuu Russian Film Festival kicks off in Helsinki

HELSINKI. The VIII Kino Lokakuu Russian Film Festival opened on Tuesday February 10 in the capital of Finland. The opening ceremony of the film forum took place in the evening at the Russian Center for Science and Culture.

“This year the interest in the festival is greater than in the past. Here we have presented good, high-quality films that meet our goal of showing Russia in many ways, ”said Merja Yokela, representative of the Finland-Russia society that organizes the festival.

On the very first evening, the guests of the film forum were presented the picture of Alexander Mitta "Chagall-Malevich". The film, which appeared at the box office in the spring of 2014, tells about the period of the life of the artist Marc Chagall in revolutionary Vitebsk. This is a biographical story of selfless love, amazing faith and unconditional devotion to the artist’s wife Bella Chagall, which is told against the backdrop of her husband’s duel with Kazemir Malevich.

Meanwhile, Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film “Leviathan” became an absolute hit of the festival - even three weeks before the show, all tickets were sold out. According to Merya Yokela, the paintings “It Is Hard to Be a God” by Alexei German, “White Nights of the Postman Alexei Tryapitsin” by Andrei Konchalovsky and “Legend No. 17” by Nikolai Lebedev are also very popular - tickets for these films are sold more actively than others. In total, more than ten Russian paintings will be shown at the festival.

In addition, a discussion forum on cultural relations between Ukraine and Russia is planned in the film forum program. Panelists will discuss how culture can bring peace back. This evening there will be a screening of the film “Kiev-Moscow”, which tells the story of the lives of ordinary people living on both sides of the border.

Merya Yokela noted that more than a hundred guests attend the Russian Film Festival every year. “We hope that this year will be more. It is curious that the films turned out to be interesting to different generations of the country’s inhabitants - both students and elderly people will come to our sessions, ”she emphasized. On February 15, the 8th Kino Lokakuu Film Festival will end in Helsinki.

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru