July 31, 2026 — the “golden gate” of the III International Film Festival “Antares” closed. Exactly at midnight, the submission period ended, leaving behind not just statistics, but a whole story — a story of how 83 countries, 5 months, and 3.5 thousand applications for participation in the film festival merged into a single creative impulse.
Launched on March 6, the submission campaign lasted almost 150 days. During this time, the organizing committee processed more than three thousand works that came into the festival ecosystem through four main channels — via the platforms “Our Festivals”, FilmFreeway, FestHome, and through the official festival website. Each of these routes became a kind of “film bridge”, connecting directors from the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa with the Russian audience.
The manifesto of the “Antares” festival speaks of something important: cinema should not disappear into archives after a couple of screenings for professionals. Our festival is not a finale, but a start. We exist so that stories about the Working Person — about the welder, the teacher, the doctor, the engineer — are heard by the whole country. So that a film does not remain unnoticed, but goes to federal air and becomes a reason for a big conversation. And the geography of applications, covering 83 countries, is the best proof: the theme of labour, dignity, and simple human courage is in demand all over the world today. Directors from all continents saw in “Antares” not just a competition platform, but a space for honest dialogue about what makes a person Human.
3,412 applications — and this is not just dry statistics. These are applications to all festival competitions, and this year there are 5 of them: feature-length and short fiction films, documentaries, animated films, and also a screenplay competition. Behind every application is a team, sleepless nights of editing, tears of joy or disappointment, first steps in big cinema, or another attempt to say something important to the world.
If you add up the running time of all submitted films, it would exceed 4,000 hours — that’s more than half a year of continuous viewing. That is exactly how much time would be needed to cover all the material, if not for the festival's professional team.
The geography of participants speaks for itself: from tiny island states to the largest film powers. However, the real sensation was the unexpected leader — Spain, which overtook even Russia.
| Rank | Country | Number of applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 405 |
| 2 | Russia | 287 |
| 3 | Turkey | 265 |
| 4 | Iran | 240 |
| 5 | India | 185 |
| 6 | Brazil | 160 |
| 7 | USA | 130 |
| 8 | Egypt | 105 |
| 9 | Kazakhstan | 82 |
| 10 | China | 70 |
The answer lies not in chance, but in pattern. In recent years, Spanish cinema has increasingly turned to the theme of the ordinary person, their profession, their daily feat — that very hero whom “Antares” made the main face of the festival. Spanish directors boldly film about what concerns everyone: about the dignity of labour, about choice, about the price we pay for our calling. These films are not about superheroes — they are about people who get up before dawn to support their families, build cities, heal, teach, create. It is precisely this agenda that found a lively response in Spanish‑language cinema and made “Antares” a natural point of attraction for dozens of authors. The festival team worked purposefully to convey this mission to Spanish film schools, producers, and independent studios, offering them not just a competition platform, but a space for serious dialogue about what makes a person Human. And the result was not long in coming: Spain not only outpaced everyone in the number of applications — it confirmed that cinema about labour, dignity, and simple human courage is more in demand than ever.
Interestingly, Turkey and Iran, countries with deep cinematic traditions, showed unprecedented activity — together they sent more than 500 applications. India and Brazil confirmed their status as “film factories of the future”, while Egypt and Kazakhstan surprised with the freshness and boldness of the works they submitted.
Now the selection committee, headed by program director Andrey Afrin, is immersed in a real battle for quality. Out of almost 3.5 thousand applications, only about 200 films must be selected to enter the four competition programs — fiction feature, short, documentary, and animation. In addition, up to 50 of the best projects will be selected in a separate screenplay competition. This means that the competition share will be less than 6% of the total number of applications — the toughest competition, in which only the truly best win.
“We receive not just technically good works — these are films with soul, with a living authorial statement, with genuine respect for the theme of profession and the working person. It is precisely such films that can touch the hearts of millions, not just the festival audience. And the more such films we see, the more acutely we understand: we are on the right track. Selecting the best from the best is always difficult, but this selection is precisely our main tool to make sure that viewers across the country see cinema that changes the view of familiar things.”
— Andrey Afrin, Program Director of “Antares”
When will we know the finalists? On August 11, 2026, the shortlist — the list of films that will compete for the main awards and the hearts of viewers — will be published on the festival’s official website. This date will be the starting point for the final preparations for the festival itself, which will take place this autumn.
We are grateful to everyone who took the risk, sent their work, and believed in “Antares”. Cinema is always a dialogue, and our festival has become a platform where this dialogue sounds in dozens of languages, accents, and cinematographic dialects.
Stay tuned for news, get ready for the opening — ahead of us is a world that we create together.
A — Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia
B — Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Brazil
C — China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Chile
D — Denmark
E — Egypt, Estonia
F — Philippines, Finland, France
G — Germany, Greece, Georgia
H — Hungary, Honduras
I — India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan
J — Japan, Jamaica
K — Kazakhstan, Canada, Qatar, Kenya, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, South Korea
L — Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg
M — Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, Mongolia, North Macedonia
N — Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway
O — Oman, UAE
P — Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal
R — Russia, Romania
S — Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland
T — Thailand, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey
U — Uganda, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, UK
V — Venezuela, Vietnam
09.10.2026 г.
01.10.2026 г.
30.09.2026 г.
