INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL FLAHERTIANA

The Flahertiana festival named after this American filmmaker rests upon principles first used by Robert Flaherty in his film “Nanook of the North”. The main principle of such films is portraying the protagonist's real life on film and structuring it on the screen according to the laws of dramaturgy. The main methods are long-term observation and habitual camera. All decisions of the festival selection commission, which consists of film critics Viktoria Belopolskaya and Marina Drozdova and filmmakers Boris Karadzhev and Pavel Petchenkin, are made based on these principles. The first edition of the festival was held in 1995 and until 2006 it was held once in two years. That time it was more like theoretic workshop not competition. Since 2006 the festival officially became annual international documentary film festival with international competition jury and FIPRESCI jury. The festival program also includes Russian documentaries competition “Russian Flahertiana” as well as various special programs: jury members’ films, childrens' film program, program of the Russian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents, programs investigating different social and humanitarian issues. Different seminars, round-table discussions, theoretical conferences, workshops are also held in the frameworks of the festival.