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Russian Filmmakers Union KinoSoyuz issue declaration entitled ‘No To War’.

Internationally-renowned Russian directors Alexei Popogrebsky, Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Marina Razbezhkina, Boris Khlebnikov and producers Evgeny Gindilis, Natalia Manskaya and Natalia Drozd are among the signatories of a declaration protesting at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a declaration entitled ‘No To War’, the Union of Cinematographers and Professional Cinematographic Organisations and Associations of Russia (known as KinoSoyuz) said that it had “received with pain and anger” the news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

“No national, political or geopolitical value can be more important than the most and fundamental value - the value of human life.

★★★★☆ A prime example of the complications faced by Russian films attempting to find UK support, Aleksei Balabanov's The Stoker (Kochegar, 2010) is released after three years in distribution limbo. Best known domestically for Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000), Balabanov is an eccentric and unpredictable director whose work, up until now, has seldom managed to escape the festival circuit. Set in 1995 in post-Soviet Saint Petersburg, The Stoker's eponymous, elderly boiler worker (the late Mikhail Skryabin) spends his days locked away in a cramped recess of an apartment block shovelling coal to keep its three furnaces burning.

In his spare time he tells stories to local children about the war, continues writing his manuscript about Russian persecution of the Yakuts and engages in small talk with his former army comrades (now local gangsters) who use his furnace as an opportune way to discard inconvenient corpses. However, just like in the story he's composing about oppression and enforced 'Russiafication',...

In its ninth year, the True/False Film Festival sold over 37,000 tickets. This is my third year attending, but no serious growing pains have been felt with the increasing numbers of first-time attendees: screenings start on time, it’s not overwhelmingly difficult to get into anything if you have an advance ticket, and the programming is unusually trustworthy. (If anything, True/False has a terrific track record of exhuming gems lost in the festival cycle; it’s a good doc fest-of-fests, but a great festival for discovery.) The festival encourages/lubricates sociability without distracting from daily film-watching.

This year seemed special even by the standards set in previous years. The main reason I attend is to see major films that won’t get their due in New York, and True/False keeps delivering in optimal environments. One of last year’s discoveries was At The Edge Of Russia, a equally...

Arthur (12A)

(Jason Winer, 2011, Us) Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Garner, Luis Guzmán. 110 mins

You can see what they were thinking: "it worked for one difficult-to-market English comic, so let's try it again". But somewhere between the moon and New York City this romcom seems to have lost some of its spirit and spontaneity. There are some snappy lines and funny moments, but Brand's overprivileged wastrel is nowhere near as cuddly as Dudley Moore's was – or as convincingly drunk. Sometimes, hair of the dog isn't the answer.

How I Ended This Summer (12A)

(Aleksei Popogrebsky, 2010, Rus) Grigory Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis. 130 mins

Spare and distinctive two-hander set in remote Arctic Russia, where the endless daylight, monotonous work, some terrible news and a touch of radiation exacerbate generational differences to deadly levels.

Pina (U)

(Wim Wenders, 2011, Ger/Fra/UK) 104 mins

A 3D tribute to the work, rather than the life,...

Russian drama movie How I Ended This Summer is continuing its award-winning run in Europe - it scooped the top prize at the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday night.

The film, which is directed by Aleksei Popogrebsky, tells the story of two men working at an isolated Arctic research station, who gradually lose touch with reality.

How I Ended This Summer won several awards at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany earlier this year, and now it has taken the Best Film honour at London's premiere movie event.

Head of the festival jury, actress Patricia Clarkson, says, "The film turns the hunter-versus-hunted narrative on its head to provoke powerful questions about life and death, resilience and human compassion. Tense, moving and universal in its scope, this is a cinematic tour de force."

Lord Of The Rings star Andy Serkis took to the stage to present director Clio Barnard with the Best British Newcomer award for her offering The Arbor, while she also picked up the Sutherland Award for best direction.

Oscar-winning moviemaker Danny Boyle was also honoured at the event with a BFI Fellowship, which was presented to him by Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry.

Stellan Skarsgård (second from right) in Hans Petter Moland's A Somewhat Gentle Man Chicago Film Festival 2010 Winners: How I Ended The Summer, We Are What We Are Main Competition The Gold Hugo for Best Film: How I Ended the Summer (Russia), directed by Aleksei Popogrebsky The Silver Hugo – Special Jury Award: A Somewhat Gentle Man (Norway), directed by Hans Petter Moland The Silver Hugo – Special Jury Award: We Are What We Are (Mexico), directed by Jorge Michel Grau The Silver Hugo – Best Actor: Youssouf Djaoro of A Screaming Man (France/Belgium/Chad) The Silver Hugo – Best Actress: Liana Liberato of Trust (USA) The Silver Hugo: Brother & Sister (Argentina), directed by Daniel Burman The Silver Hugo – Best Screenplay: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun of A Screaming Man (France/Belgium/Chad) Gold Plaque: Márta Mészáros in recognition of her career in international cinema, on the occasion of Last Report on Anna (Hungary) Silver Plaque:...

Aleksei Popogrebsky's Russian drama How I Ended the Summer (above) was announced as the 2010 Chicago Film Festival's Gold Hugo winner on Saturday, Oct. 16. [Full list of Chicago Film Festival 2010 award winners.] Set at a science station located in the Arctic Circle, How I Ended the Summer portrays the emotional and psychological difficulties faced by a veteran technician and an eager newcomer. The Silver Hugo Special Jury Prize went to two movies: Hans Petter Moland's A Somewhat Gentle Man (Norway) and Jorge Michel Grau's We Are What We Are (Mexico). Described as a "bittersweet smorgasbord of unforgettable characters, bawdy sex, and distinctly Scandinavian tragicomedy," A Somewhat Gentle Man stars Stellan Skarsgård as a part-time gangster released from prison after twelve years. The ex-con must now decide if he'd rather pursue revenge against the snitch who turned him in or reestablish ties with his family. In We Are What We Are, [...]...

Chicago – The 2010 46th Annual Chicago International Film Festival and Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director, announced the competition award winners at a ceremony at the Pump Room in Chicago on October 16th. The Gold Hugo for Best Film went to “How I Ended the Summer,” from Russia.

Kutza made the announcements, along with Mimi Plauché, Head of Programming, and Associate Programmers Joel Hoglund and Penny Bartlett. The Pump Room is the legendary restaurant inside the Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

’How I Ended The Summer’

Photo Credit: Chicago International Film Festival

The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “How I Ended the Summer” (Russia), directed by Aleksei Popogrebsky

The Silver Hugo – Special Jury Award: “A Somewhat Gentle Man” (Norway), directed by Hans Petter Moland

The Silver Hugo – Special Jury Award: “We...

Best Actress award winner Liana Liberato

The 46th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff 2010) Award Winners Announced

Click Here for complete coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff 2010)

Russia, Mexico, Norway, Germany and USA win top awards in Chicago …

Chicago, October 16, 2010 – Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director of the

Chicago International Film Festival, Mimi Plauché, Head of Programming, and Associate

Programmers Joel Hoglund and Penny Bartlett proudly announce the winners of the 46th

Chicago International Film Festival competitions. The Festival’s highest honor is the

Gold Hugo, named after the mythological God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

Gold Hugo for Best Film to How I Ended The Summer (Russia) for the brilliantly

acted and dynamically staged exploration of human nature under pressure. Director:

Aleksei Popogrebsky

Special Jury Prize shared by:

Silver Hugo Special Jury Prize to A Somewhat Gentle Man (Norway) for a

hilarious and deeply serious adventure into crime and,...

• Bill Stamets and Roger Ebert

The 46th Chicago International Film Festival will play this year at one central location, on the many screens of the AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois. A festivalgoers and filmmakers' lounge will be open during festival hours at the Lucky Strike on the second level. Tickets can be ordered online at Ciff's website, which also organizes the films by title, director and country. Tickets also at AMC; sold out films have Rush Lines. More capsules will be added here.

"127 Hours" (USA)A tour de force by James Franco and Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"). Many are familiar with the true story, and just as many probably thought it could never be filmed. Boyle succeeds. A climber named Aron Ralston went climbing by himself in remote canyons, and was trapped deep in a crevice when a falling rock pinned his arm. He had limited food and water, no...

Xavier Dolan’s French Canadian film Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) has won the third Sydney Film Festival competition.

Australian teenage film Wasted on the Young (dir. Ben C. Lucas) and Russian drama Kak Ya Provyol Etim Letom (How I Ended This Summer – dir. Aleksei Popogrebsky) received honourable mentions from the jury, headed by producer Jan Chapman.

Chapman said Heartbeats had won because of its witty and insightful script and strikingly playful use of cinematic language.

“The jury found Heartbeats to be a boldly truthful and compassionate observation of one of the great crippling foibles of human nature – the hopeless crush,” she said. The filmmakers will receive the $60,000 prize.

The Australian documentary prize went to The Snowman (dir. Juliet Lamont, prod. Rachel Landers and Dylan Blowen).

The short film categories were won by The Kiss (Best Live Action Short, dir. Ashlee Page, prod. Sonya Humphrey), Deeper than Yesterday (Best Director for Ariel Kleiman,...

Cannes -- New York-based specialty distributor Film Movement has picked up North American rights to Aleksei Popogrebsky's Berlin Silver Bear winner "How I Spent This Summer" from Bavaria Film International.

Film Movement plans to release title in New York in September, followed by a limited national rollout and VOD bow in the fall.

The stark drama centers on two men stationed at a meteorological station on an island in the Artic Circle who find themselves cut off from the outside world and have to fight to survive.

"It is hard to remember a more gorgeous film than 'How I Spent This Summer' from the last few years. This is a film that blew us away in Berlin, and consolidates director Popogrebsky as an incredible master of his craft," Film Movement President Adley Gartenstein said.

Gartenstein and Bavaria's head of sales Stefanie Zeitler negotiated the deal.

In a separate pickup,...

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic -- Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur's gritty thriller Jar City won the $20,000 crystal globe grand prix Saturday at the closing of the 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Accepting his award from Danny DeVito on stage at the festival's Thermal Hotel headquarters, Kormakur held aloft the award -- a nude muse with a crystal globe -- and said: "We make only about five films a year and three are here at this festival. Now we've got this."

DeVito had earlier accepted a lifetime achievement award from festival president Jiri Bartoska.

DeVito -- who starred in the festival's closing film, Jake Paltrow's The Good Night-- joked that he would have to "go home with a woman holding my ball."

Best director went to Norway's Bard Breien for his wickedly funny take on disability, The Art of Negative Thinking.

Dressed in a bright red suit and zebra-striped shoes, Breien said: "Scandinavians are often asked why we are obsessed with making films about deeply depressed alcoholic lonely people, but now I can see to have success in Eastern Europe you here are just as depressed!"

Best actor went to Sergey Puskepalis for his debut performance in Russian director Alexey Popogrebsky's Simple Things.

Popogrebsky, who accepted the award on his behalf, remarked that Puskepalis was actually a theater director who had not acted before.