MIFF. Hard-hitting

Summing up the work of the 39th Moscow Film Festival

There is a common opinion that the MIFF has long ceased to be attractive to the viewer. I do not agree. With all the problems, which are discussed below, the festival still remains a space for diverse, relevant, unexpected cinema. In many sections, cinephile will easily find "movies of interest", something that is a shame to miss. First of all, this concerns the author's programs of Andrey Plakhov, Petr Shepotinnik, Stas Tyrkin. Here one could see well-known and little-known works of the last two film seasons marked by the Cannes, Venice, Berlin festivals, Sundance and Tribeca.

For some climaxes of the forum, it turned out to be “Beyond Hope” by Aki Kaurismäki, an odyssey of one refugee, in which despair is linked to hope. For others, Andrzej Wajda's last film, in fact, the testament of an outstanding director, perhaps the most important film of the "late Wajda". One of the best Cannes films is The Death of Louis XIY, in which physiology has a stranglehold on metaphysics. I would also name the most controversial film of the recent Cannes "Young Godard" by Hazanavicius - a romantic and ironic biopic about the icon of the new French wave. And for the most persistent cinephiles, a radical hours-long opus from the winner of the Venice Festival Lava Diaz "The Woman Who Gone" and the theological debate "The Sermon on the Mount" from the Buddhist nun Liu Yunui were in store. (section "Spectrum").

In my opinion, the multi-coloured “Berlin” paintings “Trace of the Beast” by Agnieszka Holland and “On Body and Soul” by Ildiko Enyedi deserve the attention of the viewer. Needless to say, how much Romanian cinema is in demand by world festivals. However, not everything can be listed. Separately, I will say about the program "Films that were not here." I would add: "And it won't." Although there are a variety of films here: both award-winning, and missed by major forums, and passed on them on the “second screen”. But these are works made without regard to any censorship framework. Here's 120 BPM, about young AIDS victims who become activists against corrupt drug companies, bureaucratic gimmicks, and societal indifference. Thanks to their efforts, a fatal disease gradually turns into a chronic one. To the cinema. And in life.

It's hard to forget Fantastic Woman. Not at all because the waitress Maria, who has a magical voice and self-esteem, is played by a transgender. This is a truly humanistic drama with a subtle psychological study about people of the “third sex”.

The most curious work of Dmitry Kubasov (one of the authors of our film "Winter, go away!"). His informal documentary "Butterflies" is also devoted to those who are rejected by society.

In fact, the MIFF for this week (somehow imperceptibly the festival shrank from ten days to seven) has turned into a territory of self-thinking, unformatted. As if there is no all-seeing eye of Milonov, looking back at the chaste Ministry of Culture. As if we can really talk about cinema as an art, and not just about good patriotic cinema for a lot of money.

And there were decent and even unique works in the competition. Like, for example, the world premiere of Rustam Khamdamov's "Bottomless Sack", a film that is cramped within the framework of cinema. Which in itself is a fact of fine art. Or the Chinese Crested Ibis (Grand Prix of the festival), borderland of documentary films and poetic metaphor - a small note about a bird that has become a national symbol of China on the screen turns into a study of the country, allowing you to enter the expanses of topical generalizations. Or the modest Finnish "Stars", not just about a generational gap, about the moral betrayal of the parents of their children.

Finally, the MIFF really has more venues. In addition to the buzzing beehive of "October", screenings were held at the Documentary Film Center, in the Garage, in the cinema hall of the Tretyakov Gallery. Keeping up with the times, the festival has acquired a now fashionable VR zone, where more than 40 short films were presented. We will talk about the dizzying VR separately. In a nutshell, this is the immersion of the viewer in virtual reality. In other words, the center of the film. Of course, this is just another new technology. But the history of world cinema shows that technological discoveries (sound, light, 3D) become impulses for the development of film language.

Problems. The organizers of the review say that the organizational problems of the MIFF are related to sanctions and delays in funding. Indeed, today, almost all Russian festivals, due to innovations and the strong grip of the Ministry of Finance, receive the main funds for holding the forum almost after its completion. But the festival has been preparing for almost a whole year. Therefore, selectors often work on enthusiasm, at their own peril and risk.

But there are quite solvable problems. For example, almost until the very Opening, it was impossible to buy tickets for the festival. Yes, and during the review, online sales failed all the time. It was difficult for the press, even the category "A", to break through to the shows of various sections. The "launch" of journalists began almost with the beginning of the session, and in the small halls of "October" a uniform pandemonium began. Why not reserve at least a couple of rows for the press accredited to work at the festival.

One could also enumerate the questions that arise from year to year to the organizers of the MIFF. And yet, despite external reasons, including political ones, there is a strong feeling that the festival still lacks the care of its influential leaders. If only they were really worried about the festival, worried in advance... If our MIFF were made by real knights of cinema, such as Gilles Jacob or Marco Muller... You see, foreign journalists would pay attention to it. And there the stars would have pulled themselves up to present world premieres, not only receive awards from the hands of Nikita Mikhalkov, and listen to the songs of Maria Zakharova.