Today, a press conference dedicated to the Antares International Film Festival, which will be held in Sochi on June 25-30, 2024, took place at the media center of the Safety and Quality Association. Its program will consist of contests for feature, short, documentary and animated films
The event was attended by the president of the film festival, Alexander Halimovsky, artistic director Sergei Novozhilov, chairman of the jury of the film festival, People's Artist of Russia Elena Tsyplakova, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, People's Artist of the RSFSR Larisa Luzhina, Chairman of the expert council Yuri Gertsii, executive director of the film festival Andrei Afrin, program director of the film festival Alexandra Zhukova, author of the award of the film festival Grigory Potocki, director of the film school A.Mitts Gennady Ivanov, as well as invited guests. They talked about the goals of the Festival, its participants, as well as the prospects of creating a platform for the exchange of experience between young and experienced authors of films of various genres.
Opening the press conference, the president of the film festival, Alexander Halimovsky, spoke about the idea of its organization, which appeared after the success of feature short films made within the framework of the Safe Work project. The attention that films have attracted has become an indisputable proof that cinema is an effective tool in promoting the interests of a working person. In this regard, the Safety and Quality Association decided to develop this topic and hold the Antares International Film Festival, which on its site will unite cinematographers and industry experts from all over the world around the labor man: "Safety is an industry science. It is present everywhere. In medicine, in sports, on construction sites and many other places. We believe that a man of work is a title that we should be proud of! And we must do everything to ensure that these people live happily ever after and return home to their families."
The program of the upcoming film festival will include screenings of films of various genres and formats, and one of the nominations will be devoted to films covering issues of safe work. Applications for participation in the film festival will be open from February 1, everyone will be able to submit it – the organizers will carefully analyze all the proposals received and contact each applicant.
Sergey Novozhilov, the artistic director of the film festival, spoke in more detail about the international status of the film festival: "Filmmakers not only from Russia, but also from friendly countries will take part in the film festival. We will also not mind if representatives of unfriendly countries take part, because cinematographers and cultural figures must unite the world in these difficult times."
In addition, within the framework of the event, a solemn awarding ceremony was held for the winners of the BIOT-ART 2023 story contest. It was their work that formed the basis for the short films of the Safe Work film almanac. Six winners received commemorative diplomas, as well as cash prizes. The chairman of the expert council of the film festival, Yuri Gertsy, spoke about the importance of holding such competitions. He noted that last year 153 works were submitted as part of the competition and expressed the hope that the upcoming festival will attract even more participants and highlight the topic of safe work more widely.
The partners of the film festival are: the administration of the resort city of Sochi, Rossiya-24 Sochi TV channel, Vesti Sochi TV program, Sochi Concert and Philharmonic Association Winter Theater, Technoprogress Institute for Advanced Training, Kurson educational platform, media center of the Safety and Quality Association, Vesti PB and the film school A. Mitta
The statuette "Antares" by sculptor Grigory Pototsky was also presented at the press conference. It will be the main award of the upcoming film festival.
