International film festival in Kaluga

The 12th International Zolotoi Vityaz /"Golden Knight"/ Film Festival opens in Kaluga, Central Russia on Thursday and runs until May 31.

According to Festival President Nikolai Burlyayev, the competitive screening program contains more than 150 feature, documentary, television, animation and debut films released in 2001-2003. Golden, silver and bronze knights will be given in each of the five nominations.

The films featured include some famous masterpieces, such as Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," which won a Golden Palm and three Oscars, Andrei Konchalovsky's "House of Fools," Otar Iosseliani's "Lundi Matin" /France/, Jerzy Kawalerovicz's "Quo Vadis," and Alexander Sokourov's internationally acknowledged creation, "Russian Ark." According to a source in the External Ecclesiastical Links Department of the Moscow Patriarchy /Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II is attending the forum as a guest of honor/, the purpose of the festival is to revive traditional cultural values of Slavonic peoples and set high moral ideals by means of cinematic art.

Traditionally, the program of the forum envisages the 3rd international conference "Spiritual Traditions and Cinematograph of the Christian World," the subject being the role of cinematic art in the forming of the moral foundation of society and state.

The event is expected to gather about 200 cinematographers and media representatives from 25 countries. The largest delegations are coming from Russia, Belarus, Serbia, and Ukraine.