The 33rd International Documentary, Short and Animated Film Festival Message to Man will take place on October 20 – 28, 2023 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The history of Message to Man Festival spans three decades of documentary films, short feature films and animation. The Festival was founded in 1989 in Leningrad by director Mikhail Litvyakov. Today, he is the Honorary President of Message to Man. Alexei Uchitel – director of documentary and feature films, People’s Artist of Russia – became President of the Festival in 2010.The Festival brings thousands of spectators to the city’s cinemas. Three competitions constitute the central part of the Festival’s programme. Full-length and short documentaries, feature and animation films compete on equal footing for the Grand Prix of the International Competition.
“The 32nd Message to Man International Film Festival, held in October last year, demonstrated the most important thing: our audience remained loyal to us, and it even increased. It may seem that tens of thousands of viewers in a multi-million city is not that much. But then again, you don’t need much salt to get the taste right. And if the salt loses its potency, how do you make it salty? Pardon me for the lofty quote, but let’s not forget the evangelical meaning that our festival’s founder, documentary filmmaker Mikhail Litvyakov, put into the word ‘message’.
There are still people in Russia for whom it is important to feel that they and their city are part of global cultural process. And there are artists who combine originality with the ability to see universal things in local matters. Such as director Alexei Fedorchenko, who was awarded our prize for artistic contribution. Or Larisa Sadilova, who became a member of the international jury. And there are people in the world who are willing to support us, such as Chairman of the Jury, Vuk Mitevski; from the hands of Aleksey Uchitel he accepted a prize on behalf of the Mitevski family clan – the leaders of European auteur cinema.
After screenings, many viewers said: ‘We did not believe that was possible.’ In fact, we did not believe it ourselves. Yet, the possibility remains,” – says Alexei Medvedev, programme director of the Message to Man Film Festival.
