New feature films by Alexei Popogrebsky, Igor Voloshin and Alexander Kott are among eight projects selected from more than 20 entries for the second edition of the Producers' Pitching to be held during the 'Kinotavr' Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi (June 7-15).

Popogrebsky's new film The Last Day will be pitched by Roman Borisevich, who had also produced his second feature Simple Things which won the Grand Prix as well as prizes for Best Direction and Best Actor in Sochi last year, while Voloshin's Me (Ya) - his new project after Nirvana which premiered at this year's Forum in Berlin - will be presented by VVP Alliance's Anna Mikhalkova and Maxim Korolev who have Leonid Rybakov's Say Leo in the festival's Official Competition.

Other projects will be unveiled to potential financiers and distributors by such producers as Elena Glikman, Elena Yatsura and Fedor Popov. The pitches will also be commented upon by a jury composed of Kinotavr's general producer Igor Tolstunov, Central Partnership's Ruben Dishdishian, producer of Kinotavr's opening film Live To Remember by Alexander Proshkin, and Mongol producer Sergei Selyanov who has three films in competition this year: Guka Omarova's Baksy, Igor Voloshin's Nirvana, and Bakur Bakuradze's Shultes.

An innovation this year has seen the Pitchings curator Anna Gudkova recruiting the services of French producer Jean-Luc Ormieres to coach the producers in pitching skills ahead of the event and then give them personal feedback on their performance after the session.

The first Producers' Pitching last year has already borne fruit: four of the seven projects presented there have already been completed. Debutant Sergei Mokritsky's Four Ages Of Love, which was pitched by producer Natalia Mokritskaya of the production house New People, has been selected for Kinotavr's feature film competition, while the films by Andrei Kudinenko, Boris Khlebnikov and Sergei Osipian are being released theatrically in Russian cinemas this year.

Meanwhile, Kinotavr's feature film competition of 15 titles, which were selected from a record 130 entries, includes such brand new films as Alexei Uchitel's Captive, Oksana Bychkova's Plus One, Vitali Mansky's Virginity, Mikhail Kalatozishvili's Wild Field, and Playing The Victim director Kirill Serebrennikov's Yuri's Day, starring Ksenia Rappoport and produced by New People with Berlin-based Rohfilm.

The prizes - including a new one for best cinematographer - will be decided by a jury chaired by veteran film director Pavel Chukhrai and including producer Roman Borisevich, actress Marina Golub and director Marina Razbezkhina.

The festival's closing ceremony on June 15 when the feature film and short film juries announce their prize-winners will be rounded off with another innovation for the revamped Kinotavr. The festival organisers will be presenting a gala screening of a foreign film - Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert film Shine A Light - instead of showcasing a new Russian production as at recent editions.

Topics