Festival of Festivals, Saint Petersburg


The Festival of Festivals, established in 1993, is Russia’s largest, non-competitive festival of recent outstanding works of international and Russian cinema. It is held annually June 23–29, during Saint Petersburg's White Nights. The festival attracts more than 30,000 viewers, as well as a number of celebrity guests. Past guests of the festival include Bob Rafelsson, Meryl Streep, François Ozon, and others.

Screening Sections

The Festival of Festivals—The main screening section. All films featured in this section are chosen from other international film festivals and are considered the best of the best films of each particular year.
New Russian Cinema—Every year's best Russian films.
Short Films—The best short films created by young directors from around the world.
Unifilm—The year's best children's films.
The festival also includes a Retrospectives screening section as well as a special screening section, whose themes change every year.

Prizes

Although the festival is non-competitive, it does award a number of special prizes, including:
Grand-Prix - Golden Gryphon - Awarded to the film rated highest by guests and participants
Silver Gryphon - Awarded to the film rated highest by audiences
Bronze Gryphon - Awarded to the best experimental film
The Nikolay Ovsyannikov Prize - Awarded for the best debut
Prize of the City of St. Petersburg - Awarded for contributions to world cinema made by a director whose film is featured in this year’s festival
Prize of the Board - Awarded to the screening section deemed to be this year’s best
Prize for Talent and National Recognition - Awarded to exceptional actors, actresses, and directors