The Jury of the Russian Premieres competition of the 45th Moscow International Film Festival – the actress Anna Snatkina, the scriptwriter and producer Andrey Zolotarev, the director, Jury Chair Aleksey Uchitel – spoke about their judging approaches at the Festival.
Alexei Uchitel: "Looking at last year's festival, when this program was held for the first time, and the winner was "The Healthy Man" by Peter Todorovsky Jr., I really hope there will be worthy films and interesting directors, scriptwriters and authors to be discovered".
Anna Snatkina: "This is my first time on the jury, so I'm really excited. It's quite a responsible cause for me, because judging is probably more difficult than being judged. Like Aleksey Yefimovich, I expect good films to be discovered. I want to understand and feel new trends, to know what topics young filmmakers are encouraged by. This is just thrilling! And I want to discover new directors".
Andrey Zolotarev: "I did not ask what we were going to watch on purpose to have a fresh perspective assessing the films. Because I believe the problem of our cinema is that we are always in this "track laying mode", when a successful film about sports or the Great Patriotic War is shot, and then everyone starts shooting about the same things. And this "track laying mode" gives the impression of a shrinking in the film industry. That's why I am glad "Cheburashka" and "Challenge" have been released recently, they are not similar to other films. I hope we'll find some fresh breath in the competition program, too".
Alexei Uchitel: "Looking at last year's festival, when this program was held for the first time, and the winner was "The Healthy Man" by Peter Todorovsky Jr., I really hope there will be worthy films and interesting directors, scriptwriters and authors to be discovered".
Anna Snatkina: "This is my first time on the jury, so I'm really excited. It's quite a responsible cause for me, because judging is probably more difficult than being judged. Like Aleksey Yefimovich, I expect good films to be discovered. I want to understand and feel new trends, to know what topics young filmmakers are encouraged by. This is just thrilling! And I want to discover new directors".
Andrey Zolotarev: "I did not ask what we were going to watch on purpose to have a fresh perspective assessing the films. Because I believe the problem of our cinema is that we are always in this "track laying mode", when a successful film about sports or the Great Patriotic War is shot, and then everyone starts shooting about the same things. And this "track laying mode" gives the impression of a shrinking in the film industry. That's why I am glad "Cheburashka" and "Challenge" have been released recently, they are not similar to other films. I hope we'll find some fresh breath in the competition program, too".