The first Russian Film Festival in London will start on 27 September 2007 at the Apollo West End, Piccadilly Circus. It is organised by Academia Rossica, London, with support from the British Council, Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian Embassy in London.

It will be a high profile cultural event. Showcasing inspiring and provocative award-winning work from a host of internationally established young Russian filmmakers, it will provide a long-awaited opportunity for British audiences to view the portrayal of modern Russia through contemporary Russian cinema.

The programme will include films made in the last two years which have already received international and national awards. An inter-cultural dialogue will be created with the help of ten visiting directors,as well as leading actors, who will be introducing screenings and participating in discussions.

New Russian animation and documentary films will be featured in a special programme for children.

Euphoria [Eyforiya]
(Cert. 14) 74mins
Drama/Love Story
£12.50/£10
The Debut Prize, Small Golden Lion, at the 2006 Venice IFF
It’s a dramatic profound story of love and jealousy – the two most powerful anthropological feelings which are revealed in the characters of two young people. Each can find what he/she is looking for. Those seeking for excitement – will find an exciting love and criminal intrigue. Those looking for esthetics – will see a belle piece of art.
They saw each other only once. At the drunken wedding. Their eyes met. It was it. Something that they have never known before, something they cannot comprehend happened. Now they cannot live and breathe without each other. As if powerful river stream, almost cosmic magnetism, pulls them together with irresistible intensity. They no longer belong to themselves, their relatives, their friends.

The Island [Ostrov)
(Cert. 14) 112mins
Drama
£12.50/£10
Screened for the closing ceremony of the Venice IFF 2006, Golden Egg award for Best Russian Film 2006
Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future

Playing the Victim [Izobrazhaya Zhertvu]
(Cert. 16) 97mins
Black Comedy
£12.50/£10
1st Prize Kinotavr National Film Festival 2006
PLAYING THE VICTIM is a dark comedy made as a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Valya, a young student is earning money by representing victims of the crimes during various police investigation. After the criminal has been seized a special group headed by a police captain has to reconstruct the crime scene. The process itself is quite comic and senseless: the criminals are defined already, and everyone knows, that they will be prosecuted. However the regulations still require a special team to imitate the crime once again in the same surroundings. The criminal should fictionally kill the victim (represented by Valya) one more time to confirm their guilt. Valya is drowning in his absurd life going from one terrible crime scene to another. Suddenly he has a vision: his deceased father comes to him in his sleep and tells the scary truth- he was poisoned by his own wife and her lover, who is now Valya's uncle... After this, the whole system of values of Valya's world collapses. He will become himself the criminal who will have to confess while somebody else represents his victims.

Goddess [Boginya:kak ya polyubila]
(Cert.16) 105min
Mystical Thriller
£12.50/£10
Jury special commendation at Go East Wiesbaden Film Festival
Female cop Faina -- always on high heels with a bottle of drink in her attaché case -- has spent a year on the case of a missing girl. There are no clues about her disappearance and many, including the girl's parents, have given up hope. Faina refuses to believe that the girl is dead and feels that a solution is within reach. The boundary between reality and dream becomes increasingly vague. In her dreams, Faina receives a visit from her mother, who tells her not to be afraid of death.

Travelling with Pets [Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi]
(Cert.16) 97mins
Drama
£12.50/£10
Natalie was 16, living in a foster home, when she was bought by a rough and unstable man. They lived at a remote station, and their loveless marriage lasted 19 years, until he died. Now free, Natalie is discovering her first love when she meets Sergei. A lyrical and poetic story about a girl and two animals abandoned on the margins of life — or, more specifically, on the side of a railroad. And so, in this poetic parable about the coming of age of a girl who matures into both a woman and a human being, the adequacy of psychological realism does not matter anymore. The gentle face of the actress and her acting invite us to perceive her as an angel who has been dropped into this sinful world, and is learning to survive.

On Upper Maslovka Street [Na Verkhney Maslovke]
(Cert.12) 115mins
Psychological Drama
£12.50/£8
Russian Film Academy Award Nika 2006
Anna Borisovna was a celebrated sculptor in past, she conquered at that time Russian and French capitals. Now she is over 90 years old, but regardless of her old age, she maintains vividness and clearness of mind, goon sense of humor and interest of life.
Peter has a Diploma of specialist in drama study, producer of amateur theater. Sometime ago he was successful in his first efforts, published a lot of works, but after that he gave up and could not do anything significant in art. He doesn’t have his own accommodation in Moscow for many years and he lives at Anna Borisovna's apartment on Verhnjaya Maslovka street, he takes care of her and helps in the house.
Relationships of these people are contradictory and mysterious; there is a big difference in age and emotional tendencies. It seems sometimes that Anna Borisovna and Peter hate each other. But what keeps them together for so many years? Funny combination of relationships and psychological motives creates a special intrigue of this film.

Piter FM
(Cert.12) 85mins
Romantic Comedy
£12.50/£10
Masha works as a DJ for a popular Petersburg radio show; Maksim is a young architect. Masha’s getting ready to marry her old classmate, Kostia; Maskim has won an international competition and has just been offered work in Germany. Neither he nor Masha, however, are sure about things. Masha still doesn’t know if she loves Kostia or has simply got used to him. Maksim is scared that working in Germany will spoil his lifelong dream to design an amazing building in Petersburg. And who knows what would’ve happened, if Masha hadn’t lost her cell phone — and Maksim hadn’t found it…?

Animation Programme – TBC
£10/£8

Documentary Programme – TBC
£10/£8