Timchenko Foundation Supports Second Geneva and Lausanne Film Festival "From Russia and Beyond"

Timchenko Foundation Supports Second Geneva and Lausanne Film Festival "From Russia and Beyond"

MOSCOW, October 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --



The Neva Foundation, the Swiss charitable organisation of the Timchenko family, is the
principal organiser of the Forum, which was co-founded by the Russian Consulate-General in
Lausanne. The programme includes more than 40 films from Russia, Armenia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia. The jury for the feature films
competition is headed by Swiss actress Marthe Keller. For the first time, the festival
includes a documentaries programme. There will be four sessions for children, three
special screenings and an evening of comedies, as well as a retrospective of Mosfilm
pictures.



The opening ceremony was attended by Geneva Mayor Pierre Maudet and Swiss
parliamentarian Filippo Lombardi, who addressed the audience - including Alexei Pushkov,
Chairman of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee - in Russian. The Swiss
politicians spoke of the long-standing ties between the two countries, which are generally
considered to be above temporary tensions.



Swiss actor and director Vincent Perez spoke at the ceremony of his love for Russia.
"The Russians have a great heart, and Russian cinema is a genuine treasure-trove."



The festival opened with the Andrei Konchalovsky film "The Postman's White Nights",
which recently won the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.



Honoured guests at the festival were Karen Shakhnazarov and Alexander Adabashyan, who
presented their own films, as well as the directors of almost all the films in the
competition programme. Mosfilm Direcotr Karen Shakhnazaov said: "Bringing our films to
Russian audiences is a great idea. Many countries have a stable audience that is always
interested in Russian cinema." According to Alexander Adabashyan, film-directors and
culture in general demonstrate "the opportunity for dialogue even in politically
challenging times."



Elena Timchenko, Neva Foundation's founder and president, said: "Art is a universal
language that makes it possible for people of different backgrounds, traditions and
personalities to come together. In today's world it seems particularly important to me to
create the right conditions for mutual understanding. Cinema brings together the play of
images, speech, emotion and visually accessible communication, which makes it the perfect
means to achieve this goal."



Festival director Elena Khazanova noted that work on organising the festival and
picking the films for the competition programme had been going on throughout 2014. "The
festival is a forum for cultural dialogue. For us it is vital that directors are able to
meet, discuss and participate in cultural dialogue where it is currently absent or where
we would like to see more of it. The principal reward for us is to see spectators in the
theatre, and their emotions and warm feelings."



Maria Morozova, Director of the Timchenko Foundation, said that the festival had been
designed to showcase not only Russian cinema but films by directors from across the
post-Soviet space who do not have many opportunities to reach European audiences. This
year's programme also includes a number of round tables to foster active engagement
between the festival's guests and Swiss cinema-goers. Maria Moroza believes that cultural
projects are "one of few remaining bridges with the ability to improve mutual
understanding."



According to Neva Foundation Director Delphine Duchosal, the festival shows European
audiences that "despite differing opinions about individual events, Russians and Swiss are
brought together by common cultural values."



The event comes to a close on 19 October with a showing of the documentary "Red Army"
by American director Gabe Polsky, about the legendary Soviet hockey team and the life of
its captain Vyacheslav Fetisov.



The festival awards five prizes in total - best feature and documentary films, best
actor, best acress and an audience prize.



For editors:



Elena and Gennady Timtchenko have been engaged in philanthropic activities for more
than 20 years. To achieve long-term results, in 2010 in Moscow they created a charitable
foundation known until August 2013 as the Ladoga Foundation. Today the foundation is
active as the Timchenko Foundation, which brings together all of the family's charitable
activities. The Timchenko Foundation focuses on support for the elder generation, the
development of sport and culture, and providing support for families and children -
strategic areas aimed at finding systemic solutions to social problems in Russia.
http://www.timchenkofoundation.org




Volga Group

CONTACT: Oksana Timoshchuk, Head of PR, Timchenko Foundation Tel.: +7(495)660-56-40 Mob.: +7(903)619-67-63 e-mail: otimoschuk@timchenkofondation.org


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