Cinema-Expo International Forum to Be Held in St. Petersburg in September

The fourth Cinema-Expo international forum, the only joint event of this kind held by show biz people of Russia, CIS, and the Baltic republics, and an international exhibition of theater and movie equipment will be held in St. Petersburg from September 9 through 12. The organisers of the event are the Cinema-Expo and Nevafilm (previously Neva-1) companies.

According to the press service of the Governor of St. Petersburg, the program will include special pre-premiering showings and presentations of the movies to hit screens in the fall of 2002. The participants of the exhibition will include all Russia's and leading foreign companies making theatre and movie equipment.

Invited to the forum have been the owners and directors of movie theatres and networks, cinematography-related organisations, local administrators, and interested entrepreneurs.

Before 2002, the forum was entitled Cinematography in Russia. In 2001, its participants came from 51 regions of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus. That year's forum was awarded a diploma for the best international project by the administration of St. Petersburg under the nomination The Most Effective International Conference. During this year's forum, for the first time, prizes for achievements in movie industry will be awarded. The organisers of this action are the Movie Business Today magazine and the Cinema-Expo. The awards will go to the creators and distributors of movie pictures whose box-office figures, this year, have been in excess of USD 5 million, the best regional movie theatre, and the best movie theatre of the two capital cities. Also awarded will be the prizes To The Man of the Year in Movie Business and For an Outstanding Contribution to the Development of National Movie Industry.