Anna Mikhalkova, Yulia Peresild and others at the opening of the Spirit of Fire festival in Khanty-Mansiysk

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On the third day of spring, social life moved to Khanty-Mansiysk – here in the concert and theater center “Ugra-Classic” the XXI International Festival of Cinematic Debuts “Spirit of Fire” started. The event is considered one of the most important in the film industry, so the red carpet was not without big names. Actresses Anna Mikhalkova, Yulia Peresild, Lyanka Gryu, director Pavel Lungin, the star of Ranevskaya Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk, Sergey Garmash, who received the award “For contribution to the development of cinema” that evening, and many others were seen among the guests and participants of the film review.

The Serbian director Emir Kusturica, who took over as chairman of the festival after the death of Sergei Solovyov, was supposed to appear at the opening ceremony, but just the day before, riding in the mountains, he broke his leg. Therefore, I could not personally attend the opening ceremony, but sent a video message.

It’s a pity that I won’t be at the opening of the Spirit of Fire festival. My connection with Russian culture is huge, but an absurd situation came out, I broke my leg. I love you, if everything goes well, I will be with you until the end of the festival,” said the director.

This year, the main theme of “Spirit of Fire” was the culture of indigenous peoples, and an important part of the program – a film with a pronounced ethnic specificity, which in the coming days will be presented to the audience by directors from around the world – works from Russia and 16 other countries were selected. This year, for the first time in its history, the “Spirit of Fire” will host a guest country – in 2023 it was India. Indian films take part in the competition program, and the owner of two Cannes Silver Lions, Bauddhayan Mukherjee, became one of the jury members of the international competition.