Golden Knight Film Festival Shows the Harmony of Life by Means of Art

Nikolai Burlyaev (1947- ), People’s Artist of Russia, actor and film director

The Golden Knight Film Festival is a forum of Slav and Orthodox nations open to the entire world. This statement belongs to the initiator and president of the Golden Knight International Film Festival, the prominent Russian actor and director Nikolai Burlyaev. The whole history of the forum which is due to open for the 17th time on 22 May proves that his words are true. Filmmakers of 30 countries shall arrive in Moscow, including France, Syria, Hungary, Iran, Uzbekistan, Canada, Greece, Mexico, Israel, and Sweden; they are not all representatives of the Christian world. Why is the Golden Knight film festival a point of attraction for them?

In the opinion of Mr Burlyaev, “Many confess that the Golden Knight film festival is, probably, the only venue for a meeting of representatives of positive trends in the world’s cinematography. The human heart clearly distinguishes between what is positive and elevating for the human soul and what is not. We represent cinema that is a source of inspiration for the human soul”. This idea is clearly seen in the forum’s motto, which is “For Christian moral ideals”. Life shows us that the moral ideals of various nations and persons of various confessions practically coincide or are consonant, at least. This is why amongst the winners of the Golden Knight festival were a film by South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk, The Bow, telling about eternal love, the work of Serb director Kovacevic, My Brothers’ Sons, a story of a big family which lost all of its men in the wars of the 21st century, and Pavel Lungin’s film The Island, featuring a man who became a monk to atone for his crushing guilt.

The international jury of the Golden Knight film festival appreciates most the films that bring forth the idea of a person’s moral transformation, or their spiritual development. Present-day audiences need such films badly. A proof of this is the almost 40 Golden Knight Clubs in 11 countries, including Finland and China. On the programme of the forthcoming festival are 220 films of all genres and styles, including feature films and animated cartoons. There are many films representing contemporary Serb and Balkan cinema as a whole. This is characteristic for the Golden Knight Festival. It gives its most enthusiastic support to cinema emerging from trouble-spots where external forces interfere in the lives of people, often trampling basic norms of human morals. There is another prominent trend, an abundance of films from Western Europe. Notably, Germany has sent the biggest number of works for the competition of student début films. This means that the younger generation of European filmmakers shares the ideas and values asserted by the Golden Knight Film Festival.

In addressing festival participants, Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and all Russia said that their aim is to show the harmony of life by means of art. This is one of the most difficult, but, yet, feasible tasks of art in the contemporary world.

15 May 2008

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27052&cid=62&p=15.05.2008 (in English)