III International Film Festival for Children and Youth “Hero” will be held in five cities of the Krasnoyarsk Region

From May 20 to May 24, 2024 in five settlements of the region:
Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Zelenogorsk, Nazarovo, Balakhta will host the III International Film Festival for Children and Youth “Hero”.

Founder of the Film Festival: Ministry of Culture of the Krasnoyarsk Region, organizer: Yenisei Kino, Regional State Autonomous Institution of Culture (Yenisei Kino RSAIC)

For five days, residents of the region will be immersed in the atmosphere of great professional cinema. Viewers will be treated to world and Russian premieres, celebrity guests, creative meetings, master classes and round tables. Entry to all film festival events is free.

The Directorate of the Film Festival received more than 2,500 applications from 115 countries – this is one and a half times more than at the II International Film Festival for Children and Youth “Hero”, which took place in 2022. This year, 100 films from 28 countries (including 52 premieres) passed an expert selection and became participants in the competitive and non-competitive programs of the Film Festival. The official competition shortlist included 58 of the best feature, animated and documentary films.

The main program of the show will be presented by 22 countries: Argentina, Belarus, Great Britain, Germany, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Spain, Canada, China, Kyrgyzstan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, USA, France, Croatia, Switzerland, Sweden.

A total of eight awards will be awarded during the show. They will go to the authors of the best full-length and short films, feature films, animations and documentaries. The special nomination “Who is your Hero?” deserves special attention, which presents films from filmmakers under the age of 18.

Among the jury and honored guests of the Film Festival are well-known figures from the film industry of Russian and foreign countries, including the President of the Film Festival Vladimir Grammatikov (“The Mustachioed Nanny,” “A Dog Walked on the Piano,” “The Secret of the Siberian Princess”), the chairman of the jury Vladimir Alenikov (author of the famous “ The Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin"), Denis Chernov and Tatyana Belova (creators of the project "Smeshariki" and the full-length animated hit "Finnik"), Виталия Корниенко (актриса фильмов и сериалов: «Тётя Марта», «Одна дома», «Мажор в Сочи», «Красный пять», «Папины дочки. Новые»), Андрей Богатырев (кинорежиссёр и продюсер: «СашаТаня», «Вампиры средней полосы» «Белые ночи», «Красный призрак», «Легенда о самбо»). Все они не только расскажут о своих киноработах перед показами, но еще проведут творческие встречи и мастер-классы.

Minister of Culture of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Arkady Zinov noted: «For me, the main sign of quality cinema today is the ability to raise serious spiritual and moral issues that modern society faces every day. In such films, heroes overcome difficulties and defeat antagonists, making a choice in favor of true universal values, such as patriotism, love, friendship, mutual respect and honesty. And the films presented at the Film Festival demonstrate this difficult path of transformation and personal growth.».

The opening ceremony will take place on May 20 at 19:00 at the main festival place the Cinema Park cinema (Dubrovinsky St., 1i). The first film of the competition program that viewers will see will be the project of Novosibirsk filmmakers “Suvorovets 1944” (director Denis Kazantsev, 2024, 6+). The film is about a 13-year-old boy who will bravely defend his village and its inhabitants. The film will be presented and discussed with the audience by producer Igor Shibanov, leading actor Vsevolod Kazantsev and actress Alexandra Kazantseva.

Cinemas of the Festival cities will have an exclusive opportunity to demonstrate the best Russian and foreign films of the competition program. The majority of the full-length competing films will be presented personally by their producers. The venues of the Festival will be cultural facilities, libraries, and cinemas.

Venues for competitive screenings: cinema "Cinema Park" (Krasnoyarsk), MBUK "City Palace of Culture" (Nazarovo), MBUK "Balahta Centralized Club System" (village Balakhta), Cinema Mir (MBUK "Zelenogorsk City Palace of Culture" , Zelenogorsk), MBU Cinema complex "Rodina" (Norilsk).

There will be about 20 non-competition venues at the Film Festival.

Within the framework of the non-competition program of the Festival, the following special programs will be presented:

• Program dedicated to the 100th birth anniversary of Victor Astafiev consisting of documentary films about the Siberian writer and feature films based on his stories;
• Program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Belarusfilm cinema studio presenting the best films for children and youth produced by the studio during its one century’s history;
• a program of showing films on film from the Yenisei Cinema film fund in the historical building of the institution in Krasnoyarsk, in the cinema hall of which films from film are shown.

Also, in the cities of the Hero film festival, screenings of a special project of the Yenisei Meridian film magazine will be held. To the Front" with the participation of residents of the region who provide assistance or participate in their own. For example, in Krasnoyarsk after watching one of the issues of the Yenisei Meridian. The Front", the audience will have the opportunity to communicate with the Yazev family. Olga Yazeva won the nomination "Family Strength" for patriotic upbringing of children and active participation in volunteerism — she organized a workshop for the production of things necessary for special operation fighters. Olga and her husband, priest Alexei, have 4 sons. The eldest son is currently on his own. Another of the sons, who is still studying at the university, works at the rear hospital during the holidays.

After the end of the Festival, the traditional Echo of the International Festival will take place, which mean that the selected films will be presented all around the Krasnoyarsk Region for a month.

The shortlist of competitive and non-competitive programs of the International Film Festival can be found at the : link

BRIEF INFORMATION. FESTIVAL “HERO”

The film festival dates back to 2018, when it was held in the All-Russian format. The festival was awarded international status in 2020. In 2021, the film festival was included in the Law of the Krasnoyarsk Territory dated June 17, 2021 No. 11-5188 “On Patriotic Education.”

This is the third year that the Film Festival has had a film school, whose students will become active participants in the discussion staff of teenagers after screenings of competition films and discussions. Let us remind you that in 2022 and 2023. already studied at a film school and some graduates continued their education in higher educational institutions of the country and abroad in the field of the film industry. During the Film Festival, special premiere screenings of films made by film school participants will be held.

The main mission of the Film Festival is to introduce children to the outstanding examples of contemporary Russian and international cinematography, build high spiritual and moral values, bring up aesthetic attitude of the children to the world around them, develop artistic taste, and help children master modern cinema and animation technologies.

— Information for the media: 8-929-321-48-36 Natalya Katunina, head of the special projects department at Yenisei Cinema.

— Festival trailer: link

— Photos link

Information for audience:

tel.:+7 391 243-73-20 – event management department