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In the weeks following the inaugural edition of the Key Buyers Event, a showcase for new Russian productions held in Moscow last fall, Roskino CEO Evgenia Markova reached out to scores of international guests who had made the trip to the Russian capital. After what was largely perceived as a successful event, in which dozens of Russian titles sold to foreign buyers, Markova wanted to understand what else the film promotion body could do to support the continued growth of the Russian industry.

One piece of advice stood out. “Not many Russian names are known abroad,” says Markova. The consensus among many of the buyers in attendance was that “this is definitely what [Roskino] should work on: you should promote your actors, your producers, your directors. You should show the world you exist.”

For the Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition, an online platform to showcase and promote Russian content that takes...

While markets such as Afm and the recent Key Buyers Event in Moscow aim to develop the worldwide sales potential of Russian cinema, the Russian branch of Fipresci, the international film critics’ federation, came up with a sure-fire idea to bring media attention to the diversity of Russian production, its varied genres, directions and aesthetics.

From Nov. 11-13, the second Fipresci colloquium on Russian cinema will bring together journalists from a range of international publications, film festival curators, film scholars and members of the Russian film industry. Held under the auspices of the bi-annual St. Petersburg Cultural Forum, the event will take place at the legendary Lenfilm Studio complex in St. Petersburg, the studio that gave the world Grigory Kozintsev, Ilya Averbakh and Aleksey German, as well as Aleksandr Sokurov, who still produces his work there.

Colloquium participants (including this writer) will have the opportunity to tour the building and its historic costume collection,...

Boris Akopov’s feature debut “The Bull” announces in serious text at the outset that it is based on a true story. But the film unfolds along such formulaic lines, from its arc of gritty tragedy to its use of counterpointing pop tracks over vivid scenes of violence, that life, in this scuzzy Russian suburb in 1997, appears to have imitated art — specifically Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” but you can throw in most of the gangster and mafia movies of the late ’70s and ’80s, too. It follows the very brief rise and long, bloody, betrayal-ridden fall of a roving gang of Muscovite malchicks, under the leadership of the handsome, stuttering Anton (Yuri Borisov). Or at least it probably does: The compellingly staged, well-performed action is, for the English-speaking viewer, buried underneath such atrocious subtitling that it is difficult to be sure.

When we meet him, Anton aka “Bull” — a nickname/play...

Winners include Bulgarian-Greek comedy ‘The Father’ and Jan-Ole Gerster’s ‘Lara’.

Bulgarian-Greek comedy The Father won the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6), which closed yesterday with its annual awards ceremony.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, The Father was selected by grand jury comprising Annemarie Jacir, Štěpán Hulík, Sergei Loznitsa, Angeliki Papoulia and Charles Tesson. The Crystal Globe comes with $25,000 prize money.

The film tells the story of a middle-aged man (Ivan Barnev) attempting to stop his widowed...

The 2019 installment of the sprawling Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6), held for more than 50 years at the sunny resort hub of the Czech Republic, boasted 12,521 accredited attendees, including 395 filmmakers, 1158 global industry professionals, and 605 journalists. They watched a selection of 177 films at 497 screenings.

Karlovy Vary, run by president Jiří Bartoška and artistic director Karel Och, runs three competitive categories. “The Father,” from Bulgaria and Greece, took home the Grand Prix, and “Lara,” from Germany, won three awards. The full list of winners is below.

Official Selection – Competition

Jury: Štěpán Hulík (Czech Republic), Annemarie Jacir (State of Palestine),Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine), Angeliki Papoulia (Greece), Charles Tesson (France)

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe

Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s “The Father”

Special Jury Prize

Jan-Ole Gerster’s “Lara” (Germany)

Best Director Award

Tim Mielants for “Patrick” (Belgium)

Best Actress Award

Corinna Harfouch, star of Jan-Ole Gerster’s “Lara” (Germany)

Best Actor Award

Milan Ondrík,...

The 2019 installment of the sprawling Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6), held for more than 50 years at the sunny resort hub of the Czech Republic, boasted 12,521 accredited attendees, including 395 filmmakers, 1158 global industry professionals, and 605 journalists. They watched a selection of 177 films at 497 screenings.

Karlovy Vary, run by president Jiří Bartoška and artistic director Karel Och, runs three competitive categories. “The Father,” from Bulgaria and Greece, took home the Grand Prix, and “Lara,” from Germany, won three awards. The full list of winners is below.

Official Selection – Competition

Jury: Štěpán Hulík (Czech Republic), Annemarie Jacir (State of Palestine),Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine), Angeliki Papoulia (Greece), Charles Tesson (France)

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe

Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s “The Father”

Special Jury Prize

Jan-Ole Gerster’s “Lara” (Germany)

Best Director Award

Tim Mielants for “Patrick” (Belgium)

Best Actress Award

Corinna Harfouch, star of Jan-Ole Gerster’s “Lara” (Germany)

Best Actor Award

Milan Ondrík,...

The 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has wrapped today and set its winners with Bulgarian road-trip comedy The Father taking home the top prize Grand Prix Crystal Globe, which comes with cash prize of $25,000. Scroll down for a full list of winners.

The Czech festival’s special jury prize went to German drama Lara, while best director went to Tim Mielants for Belgian feature Patrick. Milan Ondrík won best actor for his role in Czech film Let There Be Light and Corinna Harfouch won the best actress accolade for the aforementioned Lara.

This year’s competition jury comprised Štěpán Hulík, Annemarie Jacir, Sergei Loznitsa, Angeliki Papoulia and Charles Tesson. As previously revealed, there were career Crystal Globes for Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson.

Full List Of Winners:

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe (25 000 Usd)

The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.

The Father / Bashtata

Directed by: Kristina Grozeva,...

Family angst and off-the-wall humor dominated the 54th Karlovy Vary film fest prize race, with Bulgarian-Greek road comedy “The Father” scoring the Crystal Globe Saturday eve in a gala closing ceremony at the Hotel Thermal.

The story of a long-suffering photographer trying to manage his father’s increasingly unhinged behavior in the wake of his wife’s death, the film is the fourth team project by writer-directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov.

The jury also honored German psychological family drama “Lara” by Jan-Ole Gerster, which follows a protective mother’s frustrations as her aloof son faces an upcoming piano recital. Lead actress Corinna Harfouch took the actress prize for her tortured turn in the film.

Tim Mielants won the director prize for “Patrick,” his study of hammer obsession by a socially challenged maintenance man for a Belgian nudist camp, while Milan Ondrik won the actor prize for Slovak-Czech family drama “Let There Be Light,...

Boris Akopov's Byk (Bull) took the top award at Russia's main national film festival, Kinotavr, which closed late Sunday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with a screening of Andrew Smirnov's film The Frenchman, a 1950's Moscow set love story between a foreign student and Bolshoi Theatre ballerina.

Set in the 1990s, Bull, Akopov's debut feature, is centered on a leader of a youth gang who gets involved with more serious criminal activity. The film's director of photography, Gleb Filatov, received best cinematography honors.

Alexander Lungin was named best director for Bolshaya poeziya (Big Poetry). The film's ...

Boris Akopov's Byk (Bull) took the top award at Kinotavr, Russia's main national film festival, which closed late Sunday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with a screening of Andrew Smirnov's film The Frenchman, a 1950s Moscow-set love story between a foreign student and a Bolshoi Theatre ballerina.

Bull, Akopov's debut feature, is set in the 1990s and centers on a leader of a youth gang who gets involved with more serious criminal activity. The film's director of photography, Gleb Filatov, received best cinematography honors.

Alexander Lungin was tapped as best director for Bolshaya poeziya (Big Poetry),...