Blog: Film festivals

MIEFF is a platform for everyone who creates, takes interest in or otherwise engages with the moving images. Our main goal is to support Russian artists and introduce them to the international community, as well as help experimental cinema reach a wider audience.

We want to create spaces for dialogue and therefore we believe it important to enrich the intellectual context surrounding film and contemporary art instead of reducing it to univocal ideologies. This is achieved through a carefully curated program of screenings, public and educational events, where different viewpoints and voices are all welcome.

We also understand that if we want to be in tune with the ever-changing reality, we need to keep experimenting. Experiment for us is a method and not an empty label. We want to try different ways to organize horizontal teamwork, distribute responsibilities, and finance our whole endeavour. We want to find new opportunities for ethical partnerships and transparent communication with each other—and everyone who participates in the life of our festival.

At the moment, the festival structure includes international competition, Russian competition, retrospective section Close-Up, special screenings, curatorial multimedia block as well as an interdisciplinary educational programme called Extracurricular Practices.

MIEFF was founded in 2016 by Vladimir Nadein and Ekaterina Shitova. Now it operates as an independent non-commercial organization and is managed by the board, which includes (listed in the alphabetical order): Kristina Efremenko, Dmitry Frolov, Mariam Ismailova, Sophia Ismailova, Marianna Kruchinsky, Anna Naumova, Kirill Rozhentsov, and Margarita Sokolovskaya.