Press releases

29 Sep 2021

Days of Belarusian Cinema open Tashkent International Film Festival

MINSK, 29 September (BelTA) – The Days of Belarusian Cinema have opened at Tashkent International Film Festival, BelTA learned from Alena Astapovich, press secretary of the Belarusfilm National Film Studio.

The forum will present the new films shot recently by Belarusfilm. All the films brought to the festival are designed for the mass audience, will find a response in the hearts of Uzbekistan audience, and will help them better understand Belarus.

The screening began with Dmitry Astrakhan’s movie The Fate of a Raider, which was presented by the director himself. The war theme is understandable to everyone, whil local views may struggle to understand the historical and adventure movie The Adventures of Prantsish Vyrvich. However, actor Konstantin Mikhalenko, who played gray cardinal Baginski modeled on politician Michal Kazimierz Oginski, does not agree with this. "The themes of love and hatred, loyalty and betrayal, a craving for adventure and love for the Motherland are as old as the hills. So I think it will resonate with the audience. Through the adventurous plot the viewer learns more about our history, albeit mythologized one, and this is great. We learned more about the history of France through Three Musketeers,” he stressed.

The opening ceremony of the Days of Belarusian Cinema was also attended by Belarusian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Leonid Marinich. He noted that the two countries have recently intensified not only economic cooperation but also humanitarian ties. For example, three years ago there was not a single Uzbek student in Belarus. Last academic year, there were 2,000 of them. “It is great that we also start actively cooperating in cinematography which is an important humanitarian component of international communication today,” Ambassador Leonid Marinich said.

Belarus will present its films in Samarkand on 30 September and hen in Syr Darya.

The Tashkent International Film Festival has reopened following a 25-year hiatus. The organizers did their best to to emphasize the significance of the moment. Attending the film festival are cinematographers from different continents, representatives of the film industries of Russia, the United States, and India and also such celebrities as Nikita Mikhalkov, Timur Bekmambetov, Steven Seagal and Philipp Kirkorov. Everything has been done to make the festival correspond with its name - The Pearl of the Silk Road.

“The Belarusian delegation has received a warm welcome. The delegation comprises Belarusfilm Director General Vladimir Karachevsky, dean of the Screen Arts Department of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts Pavel Ivanov, Honored Artists of Belarus Alla Prolich and Alena Lanskaya, filmmaker Dmitry Astrakhan, documentary filmmaker Galina Adamovich, documentary filmmaker Olga Dashuk, scriptwriter director Viktor Aslyuk, First Deputy Director of the Publishing House Zvyazda Elena Levkovich, leading specialist of the Belarusfilm Studio production center Alla Kurkul. At a press conference ahead of the opening ceremony Director General of the Cinematography Agency of Uzbekistan Firdavs Abdukhalikov mentioned cooperation with Belarusfilm Studio among top priority projects. The joint project Kazbek is already in the works and we expect to sign an agreement on its implementation during the festival,” said Alena Astapovich.

The festival will run through 3 October.