Source: Moscow Helsinki Group

The 20th anniversary of the International Stalker Human Rights Film Festival will run from 10th-15th December 2014 in Moscow. The programme consists of 54 films which include: 14 full length feature films; 11 short drama films and 29 documentary films.

The jury for the Stalker film festival is composed of theatre directors Vadim Abdrashitov, Vladimir Gerchikov, Aleksei Muradov, Andrei Osipov, Larisa Sadilova, Aleksei Simonov (member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation), Yevgeny Tsymbal, Elena Tsyplakova and producer Raisa Fomina. By tradition, previous prizewinners of the Stalker Film Festival join the jury.

At the film festival there will be special prizes awarded by human rights organisations. The winners will be selected by a jury that includes: Tatiana Bakhmina from the International Memorial Society; Elena Grishina from the Moscow Helsinki Group; Natalya Dzyadko from the Centre for Criminal Justice Reform; Irina Eryomina from the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Community Centre; and Alla Pokras from the Russian branch of Penal Reform International.

In keeping with tradition its own prize, the “Golden Elephant” prize will be awarded by the Guild of Film Experts and Critics. This year the Guild jury includes: Aleksandr Kolbovsky, Leonid Pavlyuchik and Elena Uvarova.

A prize based on viewers’ choices will be awarded by a Youth Jury headed by the president of the Student Press Union, Pyotr Safroshkin.

The selection commission of the Festival includes: film critic Svetlana Khokhyarkova, the expert Vera Soboleva and the director Ksenya Klimentova.

During the run of the Festival, special events will be held in the Central House of Journalists:

On 11th December in the Marble Hall: the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Programme for Development in the Russian Federation invite the public to a discussion on “Reflecting the theme of human rights in the cinema”. It starts at 12 o’clock.

On 12th December in the cinema hall there will be a special film programme by the Canadian Embassy under the title “Reflecting on the past for the sake of the future.” It starts at 17.00.

On 14th December in the cinema hall there will be a special programme by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Russia called “Human rights through the eyes of the young”. It starts at 17.00.

On 16th December in the Marble Hall, the branch of Penal Reform International in Russia, with the support of the European Union, will conduct a round table discussion “The rights of children in conflict with the law”. It starts at 15.00.

All Festival screenings will take place in the Big and White Halls of the Central House of Filmmakers (13, Vasilevskaya Street) and in the cinema hall of the Central House of Journalists (8a, Nikitsky Boulevard).

Entrance is free to all film screenings.

Electronic invitation tickets can be ordered and obtained on the site: www.stalkerfest.org

Translated by Frances Robson