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 the festival—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

External links

• Official site of the SPIFF