Seven sweats gone

Moscow Film Festival has closed

The festival closed in unimaginable heat. Despite this, MIFF President Nikita Mikhalkov decorated the poisonously green (sponsor's color) main staircase of the Pushkinsky cinema - perhaps not a feat, but there was something heroic in it. For an hour and a half, he patiently (exiting only briefly to wipe the sweat from his forehead) stood in full evening gear in the form of a black tuxedo and bow tie under the black umbrella of his security guard, greeting the guests of the closing ceremony. No world stars were observed. But, as one famous television journalist joked, it has become noticeable that cosmetologists are already crowding out dentists. Domestic stars are rapidly rejuvenating, which is why the people they need, who are far from cinema, increasingly predominate at such events.

However, the cramped area in front of the cinema entrance and vodka cocktails from sponsors can destroy any beauty; everything melted and spread from the inexorably blinding sun. Fortunately, thanks to Felix Mikhailov, the new director of the MIFF gala ceremonies, they are now held clearly and concisely.

The guests behaved at home. Czech actress Vilma Cibulkova, appearing on stage to receive her prize for best actress, raised her hem and showed the crowd her bare feet - “I didn’t have time to buy shoes,” she said. Luc Besson, announcing the award for best film, wished the winners to use the prize money to buy themselves some clothes: a suit or boots...

Ambitious prize “I Believe.” Stanislavsky,” invented to attract world stars to the MIFF, unexpectedly went to the Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Beart, who managed to escape to Moscow for a few days to present in the competition program the directorial debut of her new husband, Mishael Cohen, “It Begins with the End,” where they played a restless love interest together. passion. The jury did not make any note of either this pseudo-erotic drama, which was rejected by the Cannes Festival allegedly because of too explicit scenes, or the actress herself. But the management of the MIFF decided to give an honorary prize to the beautiful Emmanuelle. She turned her words directly to Konstantin Sergeevich: “I didn’t finish theater school, I learned about you and read you much later, but it was you who showed me the way in life and in art, so I am happy to take this important prize with me.”

So, the Year of France in Russia turned out for the MIFF with two films by directors with famous names for the opening and closing and an honorary prize for a beautiful, but not yet significant actress. Well, and the participation of Luc Besson in the distribution of prizes. It seems that Besson did not really like being the chairman of the jury at the MIFF - in any case, when the time came to part with the chain that festival president Mikhalkov hung around Besson’s neck at the opening, it turned out that the chairman of the jury did not put it on at the closing, but kept it hand rolled into a ball. So Mikhalkov even had to jokingly scold the famous Frenchman for such careless handling of a precious thing... However, the leader of the domestic film industry, as it turned out, is more concerned about how his “Anticipation” will be appreciated in Karlovy Vary, where the master’s new film will be shown in one of the introductory programs. “I hope that she will be received better there than here,” Mikhalkov wished himself. He goes to the Karlovy Vary Festival, which was once a sister festival, but has long surpassed its Moscow twin in status, at the end of the week to receive the Crystal Globe for his outstanding contribution to world cinema.

Olga GALITSKAYA, Gleb MYSHKIN