Cinema in the service of the Fatherland: RUSSIA EXPO hosted the finale of the international film festival

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The closing ceremony of the travelling festival "Cinema in the Service of the Fatherland" dedicated to the second anniversary of the special military operation was held at the RUSSIA EXPO. This year the festival acquired the status of international, and the main theme of the competition program was the service to the Fatherland.

In 2023, the festival united 27 regions of the country, film screenings were held in more than 200 higher and secondary professional educational institutions of the country. Hundreds of face-to-face meetings of young people with the creative team of directors, poets and musicians were held. The unifying idea of the festival in 2023 was the image of a participant of a special military operation in art.

The main goal of the project is to deliver truthful information about Russian soldiers, volunteers of Donbass, to explain the reasons for the special military operation with immersing the audience in the lives of creative people who help the front. Participants of the Festival included families of servicemen and those involved in the special military operation, creative youth, activists of public and patriotic organizations of Russian regions.

"We begin our evening with a discussion with people who are involved in what is happening here today, our movies, our lives, our destiny. All of us are now in the service of the Fatherland," said Olesya Shigina, documentary filmmaker and head of cultural projects for the Committee of Families of Fatherland Warriors.

Elena Belikova, director of the FSBI "Rospatriotcenter", director and actress Anna Artamonova, director Pavel Astakhov, executive director of the Youth Center of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia Dmitry Yakunin and singer and composer Alexei Poddubny took part in the discussion about the festival and cinema.

"To be honest, I never thought I would make a movie. And moreover about the war in Ukraine. But it so happened that in the last year and a half four movies have been made - three have already been released, another one will be released soon - and probably this is not the end. War is a part of life. It was given to us to cleanse ourselves and sprout like snowdrops through the shards of shells and casings," said Pavel Astakhov.

Dmitry Yakunin drew attention to the importance of such events as the festival "Cinema in the Service of the Fatherland".

"Geopolitical changes and war always move creators to rethink life and history. Akira Kurosawa said that, perhaps, without the Great Patriotic War, Soviet cinema would not have been so successful. The creators of the golden age of Russian literature were formed during the Patriotic War of 1812. This festival shows that there are so many wonderful authors, creators who now comprehend in their art the upsurge of Russian culture and Russian cinema. It seems to me that this is very important," emphasized Dmitry Yakunin.

"Cinema in the Service of the Fatherland" is a cultural and educational project of the Committee of Families of Fatherland Warriors, the co-organizer of the festival is the Russian Society "Knowledge". The festival was held from February 19 to 22 in Moscow at several venues: as part of the educational program of the International RUSSIA EXPO, at the Victory Museum, at the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, as well as at the Illuzion cinema.