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Almost 200 documentaries submitted for Eurasia.DOC festival

MINSK, 30 September (BelTA) – Minsk will play host to Eurasia. DOC, the CIS Countries Documentary Film Festival, on 30 September and 1 October, the festival program director Valery Shekhovtsov told reporters, BelTA has learned.

"During the selection process we had concerns as to the number of entries, the number of participating countries. We are still recovering from the COVID pandemic. Last year a lot of projects were put on hold, many plans remained unrealized. This year, despite all these difficulties, we received 196 works from 21 countries and selected 30 works from 10 countries for the short program: Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Ukraine, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan," Valery Shekhovtsov said.

The festival is traditionally held in Smolensk and Minsk. "We keep this tradition, and I am very glad that this year we have managed to hold events offline. We screened a part of the films and held a roundtable and master classes in Smolensk. In Minsk we will screen movies in the Belarus cinema house today and tomorrow and host a roundtable to discuss ‘The Belovezha Accords. A Trial by Sovereignty’," the program director said.

"We decided that we will hold the events associated with the 30th anniversary of the Belovezha Accords in Minsk. These include the roundtable and the screening of two films. After all, this is where it happened. In general, the festival runs several thematic blocks. Among them are the 30 years of the Beloveza Accords, 80 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Nuremberg Trials, 60 years of the first human flight into space. There are also two traditional themes: ‘Man. The Truth of Life’ and ‘ Eurasia Continent’,” Valery Shekhovtsov continued.

According to him, the festival is gaining momentum not only in terms of the number of applications but also in terms of quality. “The films are very strong, interesting. There is definitely something to see at the festival," the program director is sure.

When asked about where the festival films can be seen afterwards, Valery Shekhovtsov replied: "Youth films will be uploaded to the website of the Eurasia. DOC: 4 Minutes contest. We upload the films of the main competition program to the main website. However, we provide links only to the films that we have permission from the authors," he stressed.

"With the support of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and its chairperson Natalya Kochanova, we, Belarusian journalists, arrange screenings of these films in our cities after the festival," added Andrei Krivosheev, the chairman of the Belarusian Union of Journalists, director of the 6th edition of Eurasia. DOC.

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