The 41st Edition Of The Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), One Of The Oldest Film Festivals In The World

The 41st edition of the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), one of the oldest film festivals in the world, opens in the Russian capital on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2019) The 41st edition of the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), one of the oldest film festivals in the world, opens in the Russian capital on Thursday.

For the first time the MIFF was held in 1935, with legendary Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein being chairman of the jury. "Chapaev" war film, directed by the Vasilyev brothers, opened the competition program and won the main prize.

In 1959, the festival was resumed, taking place once in two years, in odd-numbered years.

Film director Sergei Bondarchuk became the winner of the 1959 Moscow Film Festival, his film "Fate of a Man" won the main prize.

In 1972, the MIFF was registered by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations as one of the largest and most prestigious festivals, along with those held in Berlin, Cannes, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary and Venice.

The festival became annual in 1999.

Informational films and retrospectives are shown, memory days, round tables, scientific seminars, conferences, symposiums are traditionally held within the framework of the MIFF festivals.

In 2004-2012, the MIFF's organized Perspectives competition, in which debut, exploratory and experimental movies competed for the first prize. In 2013, all new film directors were included in the short film program.

In 2011, the MIFF program introduced a competitive section for documentaries.

The festival program includes: main competition, documentary competition, short film competition, out-of-competition screening, retrospective screening and Russian programs.

The festival program only includes films that have not been previously publicly screened on the territory of the Russian Federation (except for the retrospective screening and the Russian programs).

The MIFF's General Management determines the screening program. Each film can be demonstrated no more than five times during the festival, including screenings for the press.

Under the rules, at least 12 full-length films should participate in the main competition, and at least seven films participate in the documentary competition.

Only full-length films made after the previous year's May 1 are allowed to participate in the programs of the current festival. The short films competition includes short movies with the duration of no more than 35 minutes and directed after May 1 of the previous year.

An international jury of the main competition, an international jury of the documentary competition and an international jury of the short films competition are set up to assess the films in the competition program.

Over the years, the festival jury was headed by the world's largest filmmakers: US actor Richard Gere; Greek filmmaker and screenwriter Theo Angelopoulos; German film director Margarethe von Trotta; UK film director Alan Parker; Russian film director Gleb Panfilov; French film director, screenwriter and producer Jean-Jacques Annaud; Australian film director Fred Schepisi; French film director, screenwriter and producer Luc Besson; US-born actress Geraldine Chaplin; Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor Hector Babenco; Russian film director Pavel Lungin; and Iranian film director, writer, film editor, and producer Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

The MIFF main awards were won by films made by the world's most distinguished film directors such as Kaneto Shindo from Japan; Federico Fellini from Italy; Andrzej Wajda from Poland; Akira Kurosawa from Japan; Krzysztof Zanussi from Poland; Sergei Bondarchuk, Gleb Panfilov, Elem Klimov, Georgiy Daneliya and Alexey Uchitel from Russia; and others.

Until 1989, the MIFF was awarding gold prizes, gold and silver medals, awards and special prizes; since 1989, the statuette of St. George has been the festival's main prize.

The international jury of the main competition awards following prizes-statuettes of St. George: the main prize for the best film; special jury prize, which is awarded in accordance with the jury's decision; prize for the best director; prize for the best actor; prize for the best actress.

The jury of the documentary competition awards the prize for the best documentary film, while the international jury of the short films competition awards the prize for the best short film.

The Organizing Committee and General Management award the prize for an outstanding contribution to the world cinema, and the special prize named "I Believe. Konstantin Stanislavsky" for the outstanding achievement in the career and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's acting school.

The festival prizes also include: the prize of the international film critics jury (FIPRESCI jury) for the best film of the main competition (goes to the director of the film); prizes of the Russian film critics jury for the best film of the main competition (goes to the director); the Audience Choice Award for the best film of the main competition (goes to the director of the film following the audience polls results); prize of the Russian Film Clubs Federation for the best film of the main competition (goes to the director of the film).

In 2016, as a partner and an official jeweler of the festival, the Swiss brand Chopard presented an updated design of all festival awards. The brand shops in Switzerland produced 13 exclusive awards.

The festival's main awards are the statuettes of St. George on a silver horse, slaying the dragon with a spear. Two awards � for the best movie of the main competition and for the contribution to the world cinema � are made of silver, gilded in gold. Winners in seven other nominations are awarded with "Silver George."

Chopard also presented a fresh design of the special prize "I Believe. Konstantin Stanislavsky." The award is made of gold-leafed copper and represents a film strip in the form of a tree with an inscription "I Believe."

Over the years, honorary "I Believe. Konstantin Stanislavsky" prizes for achievements in acting were awarded to US actor Jack Nicholson, French actress Jeanne Moreau, US actress Meryl Streep and actor Harvey Keitel, French actress Fanny Ardant, Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski, French actor Gerard Depardieu, Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky, French actresses Isabelle Huppert and Emmanuelle Beart, as well as English actress Helen Mirren among others.

Russian filmmaker and actor Nikita Mikhalkov is the president of the festival, while Russian film critic Kirill Razlogov is the MIFF's programming director.

In 2018, the 40th MIFF was for the first time held in April, while previously the festival used to take place in summer.

As many as 16 films from Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Turkey, and other countries were screened as part of the main competition program. The festival screened 300 films from 67 countries and was attended by over 50,000 spectators.

The main prize was awarded to Russian film director Eduard Novikov for his movie "The Lord Eagle." The prize for the best director was awarded to Alexander Kott for his film "Spitak," which is dedicated to the devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988.

The movie named "Nu" of Chinese-born actress Yang Ge opened the festival. The film tells a story of a foreigner, who is trying to find love in Moscow. The jury awarded the movie with the special prize.

New Zealand's actor Kieran Charnock, who played in the "Stray" film, won the best actor prize. Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno won the best actress award for her role in Naples in Veils.

German actress Nastassja Kinski received the special MIFF prize "I Believe. Konstantin Stanislavsky" for her acting skills and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.

A very special prize, Golden St. George "For an outstanding contribution to the world cinema," was awarded posthumously to Oleg Tabakov. The jury diploma "For high artistic accomplishments and authenticity in depicting an era" was awarded to the "Dovlatov" film by Alexey German Jr.

In 2019, the MIFF will be held from April 18 to April 25. The forum's main competition includes 13 films from France, Japan, Iran, Italy, Latvia, Russia and other countries.

"The Sun Above Me Never Sets" film directed by Lyubov Borisova, "Sunday" by Svetlana Proskurina and "Vongozero: The Outbreak" by Pavel Kostomarov will represent Russia in the 2019 MIFF.

The famous Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk will head the jury of this year's festival.