I am honored to welcome the participants and guests of the 10th Annual Russian Film Week in New York.  Over the last decade, our two countries have been hit with tragedy, loss as well as the harsh economic reality, yet somehow we retained our sanity and managed to look at life as a glass half-full. Amidst the recession chaos, we find time to celebrate and rejoice in our triumphs – personal as well as global. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the film festival, a unique event focused on the best of Russia’s cinematography, and I am humbled to be a part of it.

As the year comes to an end, we look back at what has been accomplished and what is yet to be done. Through these challenging times, we have learned that the quality of life improves through spending time with friends and loved ones, through celebrating someone’s artistic expression and creativity as well as embracing the diversity of our viewpoints.

This year’s festival selection offers the best in Russian cinema in 2010 and I hope that you will find the films interesting, stimulating and compelling. I anticipate an emotional response from our audience. Perhaps not every film will be received positively, but I expect every screening to be filled with passion and enthusiasm.  We introduce the U.S. audience to newcomers of Russian cinematography, such as a young playwright Vassily Sigarev and his Wolfy (Volchok,) or Sergei Loznitsa’s My Joy (Schastie Moe) as well as feature renowned veterans of the genre – such as Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun 2.

In its 10^th year, the Annual Russian Film Week has become an anticipated and celebrated event in the United States as well as in Russia. I want to extend a special thank you to all of those who supported us early on as well as those who continue to be partners and friends of the project.

With wamest regards!

This phrase is appropriate when one describes intense and deep feelings for someone or something. And this is how we feel when we have our annual date with the American audience of the Russian Film Week. Who could predict that last year’s Anna Karenina and Ivan the Terrible by Sergey Soloviev and Pavel Lungin would generate additional income for ticket resellers of those sold-out movie premiers? Or the excitement and interest of those who got to watch a new interpretation of legendary stories based on historic events for the first time in Manhattan?
Another year has passed. And finally after years of anticipation Nikita Mikhalkov produced Burnt By the Sun 2: Imminence, a sequel to his 1992 Oscar-winning anti-Stalinist drama Burnt By The Sun. The first local reviews by Russian critics, as it is usually the case with Mikhalkov, hint at the fact that he should focus on the words of a famous poet: “praise and slander”. So when the movie premiers in USA, it will be another trial time for Nikita Mikhalkov as it took him 10 years to produce the sequel and he is anxious to see how American audience receives it. Just before the film was about to open in Kremlin, Mikhalkov brought up Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and said how much he admired the flawless depiction of patriotism by Hollywood. Within a few weeks, we will find out if his sequel will resonate with the U.S. movie goers.
Hollywood films are often synonymous with a happy ending. Russian films often depict reality to the fullest. We decided to feature a heart-stopping drama Volchok (Wolfy) by a newcomer Vassily Sigarev. An unknown playwright from Ekaterinburg, where the Ural Mountains connect or ,perhaps divide, Europe and Asia, Sigarev managed to capture an extreme form of human grief …and it makes one want to die from the pain of another human being. Will American audience feel the pain of the main character? I think this is why we continue to bring the Russian Film Week to New York – it allows us to see if people from across the globe are able to relate to one another and feel someone else’s grief as if it were their own.

Film critics often start their reviews from the film’s unifying features and then focus on its uniqueness and individuality. I propose that we assess the films of our festival in the opposite way – realizing that they are all distinctively different, yet still possess messages that bring us together. Once we establish how each movie is received in U.S., we can then answer the question of whether American public is interested in the contemporary Russian film-making.

Until then,