The "Heroes of a Great Country" film award programme launches at the National Centre RUSSIA

The scientific and business programme of the "Heroes of a Great Country" film award was launched at the National Centre RUSSIA, bringing together content creators, experts and representatives of online platforms. The discussions and closed strategic sessions focus on heroes and meaning in cinema, the impact of the "values industry", and recommendations for children’s films.

The General Producer of the "Heroes of a Great Country" film award, Mikhail Churbanov, noted that the forum was conceived as a space for discussion, research and project work at the same time, where the industry can not only talk about heroes and values but also arrive at practical developments and solutions: "The film award forum is an attempt to bring together content creators, researchers, online platforms, the state and business to discuss the substance of the films being produced and to search for new models of conveying meaning to the audiences of series and films."

Several key sessions will be held on the first day of the forum. Participants in the discussion "The Image of the Hero in Children’s and Family Content. Recommendations for Producers" include Russian cultural figures. They are exploring how to assess a project’s potential impact on the viewer already at the script stage and why the image of the hero in children’s stories becomes a behavioural model for people of different ages. Another session, "Tomorrow There Was War. When Should Films about Heroes Be Made?", is also scheduled. The discussion is moderated by journalist and public figure Anna Shafran. Speakers are discussing how to talk to audiences about heroism and service without simplification, while remaining convincing, contemporary and precise in meaning.

A separate part of the day is the closed thematic centre "Heroes and Cinematic Universes 2030". The session is moderated by Alexei Ilyin, Director of the Research Centre for Creative Industries and a member of the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Science and Education under the Presidential Council for Science and Education. Speakers include Alexander Zhuravsky, the General Producer of the film award Mikhail Churbanov, and Sergei Alimbekov, Deputy Director for Technological Development of the Fund for Internet Initiatives. Participants are working in the format of an intellectual laboratory, searching for cinematic "languages" that convey values important to society and to each individual while also possessing a contemporary visual form and artistic appeal.

In addition, the forum features the discussion "Heroes of Youth. The Struggle for a Strategic Resource of the State, Business and Platforms", focusing on how to create in-demand heroes for audiences aged 14+, retain their interest and speak about values through content without moralising. During the foresight session "The Value Matrix of the Film Hero 2030. Designing Social Effects", experts are explaining how to design the social impact of cinematic content and assess its influence on viewers’ moral criteria and choices, as well as which indicators, beyond box office figures and ratings, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of film projects.

The day will conclude with the open discussion "Meanings in Cinema. A Dialogue with Bloggers". Among the experts are Alla Zemskova, Zhenya Iskandarova, David Manukyan, Maryana Lokel, Vova Solodkov, Natalia Pavlova, and Timofei Krasnikov. Participants are discussing how to maintain depth in conversations with young audiences in blogging and cinema, without the soulless "exploitation of hype" and the race for emotions.

The forum will run for two days, on 11 and 12 February, and concludes with the award ceremony for the winners of the "Heroes of a Great Country" film award on 12 February.

The scientific and business programme of the forum is available on the russia.ru website in the "Livestreams and Videos" section.