Brazilian viewers appreciated Russian dramas and Tarkovsky’s work

One of the leaders in the views of the Russian Film Festival in Brazil was a documentary film dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the classic of cinema – “Andrei Tarkovsky. Cinema is like prayer.

On July 21, online weeks of Russian cinema in Brazil ended. For three weeks, on the Belas Artes A La Carte online cinema platform, viewers could watch eight Russian films as part of the Russian Film Festival – Volta ao Mundo. Prior to that, at the end of June, offline screenings of Russian films were held in Sao Paulo at the Petra Belas Artes cinema. Two events gathered more than 9,000 thousand spectators. The Russian Film Festival in Brazil was organized by ROSKINO with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Moscow Tourism Committee. The information tourist portal Discover Moscow has become a partner of the festival.

The offline screening program in Brazil included the sports drama One Breath by Elena Khazanova, the comedy I Want to Get Married by Sonya Karpunina, the tragicomedy First Snow by Natalia Konchalovsky, and the documentary Andrei Tarkovsky. Cinema as a Prayer” directed by Andrei Tarkovsky Jr. – the picture gathered the largest number of viewers in the cinema.

​​​​​​​These films were also available as part of the subsequent online festival Russian Film Festival on the platform of the Belas Artes A La Carte online cinema, which took place from June 30 to July 21. The program of the online festival also included four more films: the mystical horror film The Ice Demon by famous Russian horror makers Ivan Kapitonov and Svyatoslav Podgaevsky, the thriller Side Effect by Alexei Kazakov, the melodramatic series Tenderness by Anna Melikyan, and the melodrama Anybody Seen My girl?” from director Angelina Nikonova. The viewers’ favorites at online screenings with the largest number of views were the tragicomedy The First Snow, the documentary Andrei Tarkovsky. Cinema is like a prayer” and “Has anyone seen my girl?”.

ROSKINO General Director Inna Shalyto: “ The results of the Russian Film Festival in Brazil have shown that the Brazilian audience appreciates intellectual cinema and dramatic content. The documentary about Andrei Tarkovsky became the leader in offline screenings and gained a lot of views online – this is doubly pleasant, since 2022 marks the 90th anniversary of the great director. In addition, viewers are interested in Russian dramas – both comedy and romantic ones. Thrillers have also found their audience – this genre is popular in Latin America. It should be noted that of the new markets that the Russian content industry is currently targeting (Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America), perhaps the Latin America region is closest to us in terms of mentality and cultural code, so we are glad that Russian content it is in demand here that the audience remembers the great Soviet directors. Now we are working on the issue of holding the Russian Film Festival in another major country in the region – Mexico .”

The weeks of Russian cinema Russian Film Festival 2022 have already been held in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan; RFF will end in Kazakhstan in a few days.