Moscow International Film Festival


The Moscow International Film Festival is the film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to 1959 it was held every second year in July, alternating with the Karlovy Vary festival. The festival has been held annually since 1999.
The festival's top prize is the statue of Saint George slaying the dragon, as represented on the Coat of Arms of Moscow. Nikita Mikhalkov has been the festival's president since 2000. Over the years the Stanislavsky Award—"I Believe. Konstantin Stanislavsky" for acting achievements was awarded to Jack Nicholson, Jeanne Moreau, Meryl Streep, Harvey Keitel, Fanny Ardant, Daniel Olbrychski, Gérard Depardieu, Oleg Yankovsky, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Helen Mirren. In 2012 this prize was awarded to French actress Catherine Deneuve. In 2012 the jury was headed by the Brazilian director Hector Babenco. Among the members of the Jury were prominent filmmakers from different countries: the famous French director and actor Jean-Marc Barr; the Bulgarian director Javor Gardev; Adriana Chiesa di Palma, a producer from Italy; Sergei Loban from Russia. The "Perspectives" Jury was chaired by the filmmaker Marina Razbezhkina. The program director of the Festival is Kirill Razlogov.

History

Since 1972, the MIFF received "Class A" accreditation certificate from the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.
In 1988, the documentary section of the Moscow International Film Festival was singled out and transformed into a separate Leningrad International Festival of Documentary Films “Message to Man”.
In 1997, it was announced that the festival would be held once a year instead of bi-annually. Due to financial problems, the festival was not held in 1998. From 1999 to 2019, Nikita Mikhalkov became the president of the Moscow International Film Festival. In 2015, the festival started to be held annually. Since 2006, the documentary program "Free Thought" has appeared in the framework of the Moscow International Film Festival. In 2011, it was announced that the competition of documentary films in the MIFF was resumed.

Winners

Grand Prix (1959–1967)