No Trophy for Russian Films

The 30th Moscow International Film Festival, which came to a close on June 28, stands out among several previous ones in one clear way: this time around all major prizes went to films made in countries other than Russia. For some reason, the juries of several previous MIFFs chose to award one or more of its main prizes to a Russian entry - a trend that culminated last year when the Golden St. George for the best movie was given to mediocre Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi ("Travelling with Pets") by Vera Storozheva. Probably, there was really a time to stop awarding Russian films just because Russia is the host country of the fest (even though at the Cannes festival, French films often pick up the Palme d'Or, there is still a long way to go for the Russian film industry before it is on par with the French variety, and,... [read full story]