On January 12, 2024, the presentation of the V Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival took place as part of the marathon programme dedicated to Kaluga region at the RUSSIA expo at VDNH.
The Cosmic Kaluga track was opened by Natalia Abakumova, director of the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics; she introduced the participants and guests of the educational to the history and prospects of development of the world's first and largest space museum in Russia.
Natalia Abakumova's speech was continued by Elena Kuzina, Deputy Director of the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, who focused on the extensive educational programmes offered by the museum, including the Tsiolkovsky Film Festival.
Igor Ugolnikov, People's Artist of Russia, film director, screenwriter, producer, general Director of the VoenFilm Studio, president of the Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival, spoke about the idea of creating a film forum and the specifics of its fifth season. He also presented a video about the V Tsiolkovsky ISFF.
"This year, the year of Yuri Gagarin's 90th birthday, the 5th International Space Film Festival will be dedicated to our Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. It is symbolic that today, on January 12, exactly three months before the start of our festival, April 12, we are already talking about what will happen, so let’s call it the first press conference dedicated to the Fifth International Space Film Festival," said Igor Ugolnikov.
Igor Prokopenko, journalist, documentary films director and screenwriter, Deputy General Director for documentary and journalistic projects of the REN-TV channel, programme director of the International Space Film Festival (documentary section), spoke about how the documentaries competition programme is designed and showed a small trailer of the future documentary programme.
"France and Germany may not be our friends, but the French and Germans are, so we have films participating in the competition programme of the festival from a huge number of different countries. So I really want highlight the idea that our festival is highly important on a planetary and cosmic scale. Because it is the cosmic ideas and passion that will unite our planet," said Igor Prokopenko.
Irina Soshnikova, senior lecturer at the Department of Production Skills at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, programme director of the International Space Film Festival (Feature Films and Animation sections), spoke about thorough work on reviewing applications received in the festival's competitive programmes, about the diversity of countries whose cinematographers presented their films, about cooperation with state film archives and the importance of the retrospective section. Irina Soshnikova also invited the audience to watch a trailer of the feature and animation films taking part in the festival.
"Film festivals are not repertory cinemas, you can watch something unique and special there, something which gives you some kind of cinematic aftertaste for the whole year, which makes you think, watch, read, and it's always very cool. We are creating a large retrospective section at the festival, as retrospectives are the decoration of the film festival; they are like encounters with proven classics," said Irina Soshnikova.
At the end of the Cosmic Kaluga track, Anna Komarova, Deputy Director for Scientific and Technical Work and Vyacheslav Zhuk, teacher of additional education at the Galaktika Kaluga Children's and Youth Space Education Center, presented the "Children's View into Space" and incredibly daring space projects of young fellow townsmen.
The Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival in 2024 is held with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the Government and the Ministry of Culture of the Kaluga Region, the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, the Association of Planetariums of Russia, the Nika TV Company and other public and commercial organizations.
TASS is the main media partner of the festival.
The Cosmic Kaluga track was opened by Natalia Abakumova, director of the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics; she introduced the participants and guests of the educational to the history and prospects of development of the world's first and largest space museum in Russia.
Natalia Abakumova's speech was continued by Elena Kuzina, Deputy Director of the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, who focused on the extensive educational programmes offered by the museum, including the Tsiolkovsky Film Festival.
Igor Ugolnikov, People's Artist of Russia, film director, screenwriter, producer, general Director of the VoenFilm Studio, president of the Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival, spoke about the idea of creating a film forum and the specifics of its fifth season. He also presented a video about the V Tsiolkovsky ISFF.
"This year, the year of Yuri Gagarin's 90th birthday, the 5th International Space Film Festival will be dedicated to our Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. It is symbolic that today, on January 12, exactly three months before the start of our festival, April 12, we are already talking about what will happen, so let’s call it the first press conference dedicated to the Fifth International Space Film Festival," said Igor Ugolnikov.
Igor Prokopenko, journalist, documentary films director and screenwriter, Deputy General Director for documentary and journalistic projects of the REN-TV channel, programme director of the International Space Film Festival (documentary section), spoke about how the documentaries competition programme is designed and showed a small trailer of the future documentary programme.
"France and Germany may not be our friends, but the French and Germans are, so we have films participating in the competition programme of the festival from a huge number of different countries. So I really want highlight the idea that our festival is highly important on a planetary and cosmic scale. Because it is the cosmic ideas and passion that will unite our planet," said Igor Prokopenko.
Irina Soshnikova, senior lecturer at the Department of Production Skills at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, programme director of the International Space Film Festival (Feature Films and Animation sections), spoke about thorough work on reviewing applications received in the festival's competitive programmes, about the diversity of countries whose cinematographers presented their films, about cooperation with state film archives and the importance of the retrospective section. Irina Soshnikova also invited the audience to watch a trailer of the feature and animation films taking part in the festival.
"Film festivals are not repertory cinemas, you can watch something unique and special there, something which gives you some kind of cinematic aftertaste for the whole year, which makes you think, watch, read, and it's always very cool. We are creating a large retrospective section at the festival, as retrospectives are the decoration of the film festival; they are like encounters with proven classics," said Irina Soshnikova.
At the end of the Cosmic Kaluga track, Anna Komarova, Deputy Director for Scientific and Technical Work and Vyacheslav Zhuk, teacher of additional education at the Galaktika Kaluga Children's and Youth Space Education Center, presented the "Children's View into Space" and incredibly daring space projects of young fellow townsmen.
The Tsiolkovsky International Space Film Festival in 2024 is held with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the Government and the Ministry of Culture of the Kaluga Region, the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, the Association of Planetariums of Russia, the Nika TV Company and other public and commercial organizations.
TASS is the main media partner of the festival.