Moscow’s Cinema Oktyabr is hosting the 9th “From Venice to Moscow” Film Festival, a standing movie date for Russian audiences.
Like in previous years, some of the movies presented at the 74th Venice International Film Festival will be screened in Moscow. “The movies are really different from one other, both in terms of topics, style and narration, and in this way they reflect the complexity of the era in which we live,” Olga Strada, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Moscow, told The Moscow Times.
The festival, now into its ninth year, is growing its audience. This year the organizers decided to move the venue to a major central cinema to accommodate the larger audiences expected.
The filmmakers Sebastiano Riso and Silvio Soldini will not only introduce their movies — “A Family” (Una famiglia) and “The Hidden Colors of Things” (Il Colore nascosto delle cose), respectively — but they will also give talks at the Moscow Film School over the weekend.
“Experience has shown how direct contact with the filmmaker or with the actors can enrich not only the audience and the students, but also the directors and the artists, who see new aspects of their works through these different views. From Russian students we expect an open mind to accept ‘inconvenient’ and complex issues that reflect the new challenges of the 21st century,” concluded Strada.
“From Venice to Moscow” is organized by the Italian Culture Institute in Moscow in collaboration with the Venice International Film Festival.
After Moscow, the film festival will go on tour to Novosibirsk and Kaliningrad.
The film festival will be held until Feb. 11 at Cinema Oktyabr. For more information about the films and schedule, see the cinema site.
