23 September 2001
Third National Festival of Belarusian Films opens in Brest
The Third National Festival of Belarusian Films opened in Brest on the evening of September 23. As many as 43 feature films, documentaries,
TV movies, educational and animation films made in 1999 and 2000 by the Belarusfilm national studio, the Telefilm association, the Belarusian Video Center, the Belarusian Television and Radio Company and the private studios Videofact and Prymaki, are to be shown in the framework of the competition program during the 5-day festival.
The Crystal Stork, the main prize of the festival, will be awarded for the "best presentation of a national theme." In addition, prizes will be distributed to the winners in 10 categories during the awarding ceremony, which will be held at the Brest Drama and Music Theater on September 26. "I am proud that I am regarded as a friend and have been
invited to head the festival jury," said Gytis Luksas, chairman of the Lithuanian Filmmakers' Union, at the opening ceremony on Saturday. "I would be still more happy if we worked together. We are neighbors and I would like our cinema not to have borders and customs barriers," he
added. "A merit of Belarusian cinema is that it works positively,"
said prominent Russian actor Nikolai Burlyayev, director of the International Film Festival of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples "Zolotoi Vityaz" (Golden Knight), who attends the festival as a guest.
"Belarusian filmmakers shows all peoples of the former Soviet Union that is possible to work positively on the screen," Mr. Burlyayev said. "The world's filmmaking industry has weltered in amorality and earthliness. We must pool our efforts to bring along the younger generation and those who refill prisons, mental hospitals and the skid row of our common world. The Belarusian film festival presents
what can nourish the soul. We must saturate screens with the pictures that spiritualize the soul, not put it into mud."
The festival's opening ceremony ended with the showing of a Belarusian-language feature film by Ivan Pavlov, in which all roles were played by Belarusian actors. The film festival in Brest has gathered big names of
Russian cinema, including actors Lyudmila Potapova, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Aristarkh Livanov, Boris Khmelnitsky and Larisa Luzhina among others. A showing of two Russian feature films and a meeting with prominent Russian director Vladimir Motyl took place in the
"Belarus" movie theater, the festival's main venue, in the framework of the Russian Cinema Day on September 23. The bulk of the expenses on the festival was borne by the Belarusian Filmmakers' Union. Funds were also contributed by other members of the organizing committee, including the Brest city government.
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