The cultural programme of the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum includes screenings of films from the Arctic Open Festival. Seventeen films are screened at the lecture hall of the ‘Arctic: Territory of Dialogue', opened by the Roscongress Foundation at the Forum venue.
The programme features documentaries and short films from different years. The films tell about the unique and fragile ecosystem of the Arctic, as well as about human life in the difficult climatic conditions of the north. Through artistic visual images, philosophical evaluation of the past and present, the filmmakers speak to the audience about environmental issues, the relationship between man and the indigenous inhabitants of the free Arctic, tell about indigenous peoples and the mysteries of ethnic communities’ culture, legendary expeditions, modern generations of sailors, history and the present day. They reveal to us the majestic beauty of icy spaces, the attraction of the north and the Russian Arctic.
In particular, visitors will get to enjoy the film called ‘Expedition. Between the Arctic and the Antarctic’. The film tells about the round-the-world expedition of three Russian sailing ships Kruzenshtern, Sedov and Pallada to the Antarctic and back to the Russian Arctic with a passage of one of the sailing ships along the Northern Sea Route. In addition, the programme includes the screening of a cinematic essay called ‘The Land of Kereks’ about the ancient inhabitants of the Arctic and Russia’s smallest ethnic group, as well as a film about the expedition which discovered Severnaya Zemlya – ‘GESLO. The Disappeared Expedition’.
The Arctic Open International Film Festival has been taking place in Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, Novodvinsk, and districts of Arkhangelsk Region since 2017. The Festival projects are aimed at finding new forms of film screenings, shaping film events and festival distribution, as well as developing creative industries in the region. In 2021, the Film Festival was among the winners of the grant competition of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. The ‘Arctic: Territory of Dialogue’ lecture hall is located on the 1st floor of pavilion G in the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. Its programme is available on the official SPIEF website.
