Saint Petersburg International Film Festival
Saint Petersburg International Film Festival (Russian: Са́нкт-Петербу́ргский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. Sánkt-Peterbúrgskiy mezhdunaródniy kinofestivál; abbreviated as SPIFF) will take place as part of the Saint Petersburg international film forum. This is Saint Petersburg’s first competitive international festival for feature-length fiction films.
The Organisers
Festival Director – Maria Averbakh
Festival Artistic Director – Kirsi Tykkyläinen
Head of Selection Committee – Alexey Dunaevskiy
2013 boycott
On 22 August 2013 media reported that Wentworth Miller will boycott the festival[1]—to protest against laws banning "homosexual propaganda" in Russia.
Awards
The SPIFF offers 5 awards:
- Best film
- Best director
- Best actor
- Best actress
- Audience Prize
2012
Competition Programme
There were 14 films from different countries selected for the 2012 competition programme:
- White Elephant / Elefante blanco, 2012, dir. Pablo Trapero, Argentina-Spain
- Our Children / À perdre la raison, 2012, dir. Joachim Lafosse, Belgium-France
- Children of Sarajevo / Djeca, 2012, dir. Aida Begić, Bosnia and Herzegovina-Germany
- Invasion, 2012, dir. Dito Tsintsadze, Germany-Austria
- Off White Lies / Orhim le-rega, 2011, dir. Maya Kenig, Israel-France
- Hotchpotch / Shir tou Shir, 2011, dir. Ebrahim Forouzesh, Iran
- War Witch / Rebelle, 2012, dir. Kim Nguyen, Canada
- La playa DC, 2012, dir. Juan Andrés, Colombia
- Kolka Cool, 2011, dir. Juris Poškus, Latvia
- The End / Al Nihaya, 2011, dir. Hisham Lasri, Morocco
- I Also Want It / Ya tozhe hochu, 2012, dir. Alexei Balabanov, Russia
- Inside / Yeraltı, 2012, dir. Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey
- Captive, 2012, dir. Brillante Mendoza, Finland-France-Germany-Great Britain
- Road North / Tie Pohjoiseen, 2012, dir. Mika Kaurismäki, Finland
The opening and closing films
The festival’s opening film
Le grand soir, 2012, dir. Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern, France-Belgium
The festival’s closing film
Shadow Dancer, 2012, dir. James Marsh, Great Britain-Ireland
Out-of-competition programmes
The out-of-competition programmes showed films which displayed the most recent trends in world cinema as well as several retrospectives. 2012’s festival had 11 out-of-competition programmes:
- Shooting Stars EFP
- Bergman-Andersson-Donner (for the 30th anniversary of the release of I. Bergman’s film Fanny and Alexander)
- Movies with a taste of Honey
- Movies of India without songs and dances
- The Unknown Lenfilm
- Films from East Asia
- Films from Nordic Countries
- Landmarks of Berlinale’s Forum (the best films from the International forum of young cinema
- Screenings in Honour of Filmmakers (Emir Kusturica, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Aku Louhimies, Mihael Kalatozov)
- Please meet: Jerusalem IFF
- Premiere Before Premiere (pre-release screenings)
The Jury
President of the Jury
- Emir Kusturica, Serbia (Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Actor, Composer)
Jury
- Aku Louhimies, Finland (Director, Scriptwriter, Producer)
- Erika Gregor, Germany (Film Historian, Expert)
- Gilli Mendel, Israel (Director of Film and Media Education at the Jerusalem Film Center)
- Elena Yatsura, Russia (Producer)
Awards
Best film
Kolka Cool, dir. Juris Poškus, Latvia
Best director
Alexei Balabanov, I Also Want It, Russia
Best actor
Merab Ninidze, Invasion, dir. Dito Tsintsadze, Germany
Jury’s special mention
Burghart Klaussner, Invasion, dir. Dito Tsintsadze, Germany
Best Actress
Emilie Dequenne, Our Children, dir. Joachim Lafosse, Belgium
Jury’s special mention
Iveta Pole, Kolka Cool, dir. Juris Poškus, Latvia
Audience Prize
Road North, dir. Mika Kaurismäki, Finland