Vladimir Karachevsky heads the jury of the documentary film competition at the Antares Festival

The Third International Film Festival “Antares,” which will be held in Moscow from September 12 to 25, has announced the jury of one of its key competitions. The documentary film competition this year will be chaired by Belarusian filmmaker and executive Vladimir Karachevsky. This decision, in my opinion, is noteworthy not only in itself, but also in how it fits into the overall architecture of the festival.

Karachevsky is a figure well known to those who follow the development of the film industry in the post-Soviet space. Currently General Director of UE “Kinovideoprokat” of the Minsk City Executive Committee, he is a former First Deputy Minister of Culture of Belarus and long-time head of

“Belarusfilm.” A man who went from musician to major state figure in the field of culture. And now he will judge documentary cinema — a genre that requires not only a professional eye but also sensitivity to reality, to labor, to people.

Under Karachevsky’s chairmanship, the jury will include representatives not only from Russia but also from other countries. This gives the competition a genuinely international character. Working with him will be the following jury members:

• • Natalia Yusupova (Uzbekistan) — associate professor, teacher of audiovisual disciplines, curator of the film club movement in Uzbekistan;
• • Yulia Smirnova (Russia) — producer, expert in the fields of labor and education, member of the International Association of Media Experts and the Committee on Creative Industries of MosOpora;
• • Larisa Cheremisina (Russia) — head of the occupational safety department at PJSC MegaFon;
• • Anatoly Zakharenkov (Russia) — head of the Technical Labor Inspection of the Moscow Federation of Trade Unions;
• • Galina Chemodanova (Russia) — head of the career center at the Moscow Technological College;
• • Maria Batrak (Russia) — deputy head of the Department of Occupational Safety and Ecology of the FNPR;
• • Andrey Volkov (Russia) — journalist;
• • Elena Agamyan (Russia) — producer, general director of the ANO for the Development and Support of Children’s and Youth Projects “Plato X”;
• • Daniel Firrel (Belgium) — film actor.

As you can see, the jury composition is heterogeneous: there are educators, industry professionals, and media figures. And this is no accident. The festival

“Antares” is dedicated to the working person, and the jury includes people who know about labor firsthand — whether it be occupational safety, career paths, or trade union work. Documentary cinema, in turn, has always been a mirror of professions and destinies.

And another touch that I would call symbolic. This year the festival holds five competition programs. The jury chairs of all the other competitions — feature fiction, short film, animation, and screenplay — have been approved, and all of them are Russian citizens. Only the documentary film competition is headed by a foreign filmmaker. This is not just a formality. It is, if you will, a sign that documentary cinema by definition knows no borders — it speaks of life, which is the same everywhere. And the fact that its evaluation was entrusted to a Belarusian colleague perhaps adds special weight to this competition.

All that remains is to wait for the opening of the film festival and the works that the jury members will see. And for us — to watch how our common labor is reflected on the screen.