Popular artists supported the All-Russian video essay contest "Dreams of the Future"

Popular Russian artists — Erika Lundmoen, polnalyubvi, Mirele, and Odnono — shared information on social media about the All-Russian video essay contest "Dreams of the Future" and spoke about their own visions of tomorrow.

For Erika Lundmoen, the future is a world without borders and conventions. Polnalyubvi (Marina Demeschenko) dreams of a world without illness, and Mirele (Eva Gurari) envisions a life without gadgets. Singer natta imagines a future where no one is afraid to dream. The frontman of Odnono, Alexei Myshkin, believes that the core value of tomorrow should be respect for all living beings, not just humans.

The artists also spoke about their favourite science fiction books. Erika Lundmoen chose Alexander Belyaev’s novels "Amphibian Man" and "Leap into the Void." Polnalyubvi named "Professor Dowell’s Head," and the frontman of Odnono mentioned the works of the Strugatsky brothers, which inspired his song "Stalker."

Mirele did not name specific authors but admitted she prefers audiobooks and enjoys listening to them in nature. Singer natta, together with her manager Viktoria, discussed Ivan Yefremov’s novel "The Hour of the Bull" and its philosophy of the future.

In addition to popular performers, the contest was supported by young science fiction writers. Antonina Gileva — a screenwriter, film director, and author of the Nova Fiction series from the Mainstream editorial team at AST publishing house — recorded a workshop titled "Screenwriting Secrets: From Idea to Filming," in which she spoke about the structure of a screenplay, the creation of protagonist and antagonist, key plot twists, and more.

The evaluation stage of the All-Russian video essay contest "Dreams of the Future" has concluded. The expert jury selected 20 finalist teams — 10 teams in each of the two age categories: 14–16 and 17–18 years. School students and university students from all 89 regions of Russia participated in the contest. Among the finalists are representatives from all federal districts.

The finalists will gather on June 1 at the National Centre RUSSIA, where the awards ceremony and closing event of the contest will take place. Three winners will be announced in each age category. The participants will also enjoy a rich programme featuring workshops.

The contest is held as part of the Decade of Science and Technology with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Movement of the First, the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in the Scientific and Educational Spheres under the Presidential Council for Science and Education of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Library for Young Adults, the Council on Science Fiction and Adventure Literature of the Union of Writers of Russia, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodyozh), the ANO "ArtMasters," the ANO "Russia – Land of Opportunity," and the All-Russian Festival "NAUKA 0+," the ANO "Innovative Centre for the Development and Upbringing of Children and Youth," the Startup Village technological conference, and the National Cyber-Physical Platform "Berloga."

The literary partner of the contest is the publishing group Eksmo-AST, the federal bookshop chain is Chitai-Gorod, the partner for social content is "YOUF — Your Media about Reading," and the analytical partner is VCIOM.

The winner of the special category "Reader’s Choice Award," organised jointly with the Chitai-Gorod chain and YOUF, was the channel of the animated studio "Kroshki Znaniy" ("Crumbs of Knowledge.") Viewers were choosing the best of five videos from May 1 to 19. The winning project will receive a certificate for a year's supply of books from Chitai-Gorod worth 100,000 roubles and book sets from YOUF.

As part of the contest, the National Centre RUSSIA prepared a series of practical workshops, where registered participants could go through the entire process of creating a video — from developing the idea to final editing.

Since May 1, these sessions have been available to everyone in a special section on the website dream.russia.ru.