Film festival with ethnic flavour
Films screened and discussed at Karakuz Film, and it was also considered options for holding a large film festival in Almetyevsk and creating a film studio there
From 29 July to 3 August, Karakuz Film festival organis ed by the Academy of Digital Creativity was held in Almetyevsk. The film festival was held at several venues at once where full-length and short films were presented with their discussion with directors and film critics as well as various lectures, master classes, quizzes, audience voting and a children's programme. In addition, experts discussed the further development of cinema as part of the festival. Realnoe Vremya’s journalist shares expert versions on how to make Almetyevsk a point of attraction for film lovers and representatives of the film industry.
Step by step
There were two starting points for considering Almetyevsk as one of the significant platforms in the film industry — Karakuz ethnic festival and the programme for the development of creative industries. But first things first. Karakuz modern ethnic festival has been held for the fourth time. It has some story and focus. Basically, various types of Turkic art are presented here. Last year, they decided to hold film screenings as part of the festival, then the Directorate for the Support of Film Projects and Time of Cinema organising festivals from Kazan was involved in the creation of the programme. The latter selected films with a Turkic theme for screenings, and film critic Adilya Khaibullina held a discussion.
According to head of the Directorate of Time of Cinema Albina Nafigova, it became clear even then that Almetyevsk has quite active spectators who have demand not just to discuss films but to discuss them with film creators. They began to develop this idea, as they say, step by step. As a result, the discussion resulted in the creation of a separate film festival, Karakuz Film. Initially, the organisers planned to hold the event at two venues — the cinema hall of the Almet Educational Centre and the city beach. Problems with the second location arose almost a day before the start. The weather forecast promised long rains, which eventually happened. But the organisers quickly found another location, and the film programme on the city beach was moved to the Factory of Creative Processes youth centre, which was prepared overnight.
Then everything went according to plan. Film screenings, discussions, quizzes, lectures, master classes. They showed and discussed the debut film of Kyrgyz director Asel Zhurayeva Child of Heaven with film critic Adilya Khaibullina. Film expert from Kazakhstan Alexandra Porshneva presented a series of short films by Kazakhstani directors. Director Yusup Razykov, a native of Uzbekistan, showed his drama Kerosene that caused a lot of emotions and became the most discussed film at the festival. The screening of the comedy Family of the Year by director Aynur Askarov from Bashkortostan was no less heatedly discussed. The film Elza's White House by director Yury Kurochka from Khakassia gathered so many spectators that they barely fit in the hall. Also, a closed discussion on the future of the festival and its development with the management of Tatneft Charity Foundation was held as part of the Karakuz Film festival.
Let's have creative industries!
The State Duma adopted the bill on the development of creative industries in Russia at the 2nd and 3rd readings on 30 July, a day after the start of Karakuz Film festival. Now creative industries have become a separate sector of the economy. It is assumed that culture will not only educate and enrich spiritually but also bring in money. Although many cultural projects can hardly be called highly profitable. But they can give a start to other initiatives that can be monetised. At a closed discussion during Karakuz Film festival, they were thinking about how to develop and monetise the film industry in Almetyevsk in the context of the creative economy concept.
“It would be interesting to create a site in Almetyevsk where a film product can be made. At a discussion with film industry experts, we discussed development paths and what needs to be done to launch this process. In our country, there are regions that are a vivid example of how investments in cinematography after a certain amount of time give a domestic film product that local spectators go to and fill cinema halls. We believe that the facilities, sites and locations that exist in Almetyevsk can become excellent places for filming. That is, we have everything to produce film content that will make the city famous on a national scale,” said head of Tatneft Charity Foundation Renat Mamin.
By the way, Almetyevsk already has such experience. In the summer of 2023, New Year Tree 10 comedy was filmed here. To do this, in the middle of summer, a New Year tree was installed near Almet Educational Centre, the streets were decorated with a New Year's installation, and the centre of Almetyevsk was covered with artificial snow. The premiere of the film also took place in Almetyevsk. And yes, this is in line with Mamin’s ideas to make the city a base for the film industry. They followed a similar path in Berlin where a large number of films are currently shot. It is much cheaper than filming in the USA, and there are fewer bureaucratic problems with blocking streets. And the city, in turn, receives money for rent. It is a completely realistic plan for monetisation as part of the development of creative industries. But for now, this is just a plan, and its implementation has its own difficulties.
“For intensive development of cinema in Almetyevsk, you first need to study all the information in detail. After that, it will be clear what barriers exist. But we can already say that in all creative areas, the key point is the availability of personnel and competencies. During discussions of development prospects with experts, we came up with ideas about what steps we can take literally within one or two months to give a certain stimulus to the development of cinema in Almetyevsk. If these ideas are approved by the management, we will definitely voice them,” Renat Mamin noted.
Cannes in Tatarstan
Film industry experts also proposed other development options. Some of them advocated holding a large international film festival in Almetyevsk.
“I believe that Almetyevsk will be a great location for a short film festival. Russia lacks specialised short film festivals. There are separate programmes, but there is no short film ethnic festival with a pronounced Turkic accent at all. From this point of view, Almetyevsk will ideally fit into the global infrastructure of short film festivals. Short films are the most daring, trendiest and dynamic content. I am for the competition programme to have short films, and the spectator programme to be full-length. In the future, the festival can also be filled with industrial things, for example, pitching and networking, “ said head of Time for Film Directorate for Film Projects and Festivals Albina Nafigova.
This proposal is much more ambitious than the one that Renat Mamin is considering. In addition, it can become a catalyst for the development of other sectors of the economy such as tourism. At the same time, it does not contradict the creation of a base for the film industry in Almetyevsk. It is usually believed that a large international festival should be held in a large city in order to attract primarily city residents. But Albina Nafigova thinks that a large city is not the best option for international festivals.
“A compact city is good for promoting a festival. We saw cubes and various installations in Almetyevsk. In a large city, such promotion will be lost; the city will need to be completely filled with advertising and merch. And places like Almetyevsk allow you to create a festival atmosphere very quickly. Moreover, there is a long history of Karakuz itself, there is a legend with an ethnic flavour. Almetyevsk definitely has the potential for content and atmosphere between programmes. It can easily complement any film festival party. The residents and the city are conducive to reception. And short films and a compact city correlate very well with each other,” noted Nafigova.
As an example, she noted the Cannes Film Festival. This is one of the largest international festivals, which has been held since 1946. According to data for 2020, 76,500 people live in Cannes, and the city density is 3,750 people per square kilometre. For comparison, as of 2024, almost 150,000 people live in Almetyevsk, and the population density is almost 1,360 people per square kilometre. Roughly speaking, Almetyevsk is twice as big as Cannes in terms of both population and density. And it is almost six times bigger in area.
Cannes is not the only example. International film festivals are held in the Czech city of Karlovy Vary (its population is almost 50,000 people), in Locarno in Switzerland with a population of 15,000 people, in San Sebastian in Spain where there are slightly more people than in Almetyevsk — almost 187,000 people. We can also recall a huge number of festivals of various focuses that have chosen small cities as their main locations.
Film expert from Kazakhstan Alexandra Porshneva and film critic Adilya Khyibullina suggested focusing on the audience, not on the competition programme.
“We need to continue the format of film screenings at the festival, not the competition programme. I would recommend bringing more complex films and expanding the geography, going in a different direction, but at the same time remaining within the framework of the Turkic film festival,” shared her opinion the film critic, honoured culture worker of the Republic of Tatarstan and programme director of Karakuz Film festival.
Cinema and oil
If Renat Mamin sees the difficulty of creating a cinematographic base to have qualified personnel, then there may be problems with logistics for holding a large international film festival. For now, the residents of Almetyevsk are the main audience of Karakuz Film. The international status is given to it by the participants who come from different countries. But if the festival is not only for the city but also to attract tourists, then you need to think about logistics.
“Considering that guests have to be brought to Almetyevsk from Kazan, then special attention can be paid to logistics. Participants in the competition programme and the jury can be brought on a large bus with a sightseeing tour. Guests arriving in Almetyevsk will get a full understanding of the history of the festival, the city and its traditions. Thus, they will arrive at the festival atmospherically prepared. This way you can speed up and saturate the road with useful information,” said Albina Nafigova.
Besides logistics, the city needs new hotels. Now Almetyevsk simply will not be able to accommodate the number of people that, for example, Cannes accepts during the festival. But experts suggest moving step by step, that is, expanding the festival gradually, while simultaneously solving the issue with infrastructure.
“It will be necessary to think about the accommodation of guests if we are talking about an international festival, since Almetyevsk has a small number of hotel rooms. But there are student campuses that can accommodate a large number of guests during the holidays when there are no students,” noted the head of Time for Film’s directorate Albina Nafigova.
Adilya Khaybullina confirmed that Almetyevsk has every chance of becoming a venue for a major international film festival. But here a lot depends on the desire of the city residents and the administration for such a festival to take place.
“We need to work with the audience, with the city, with its interest in such a festival. In addition, we need to competently build a concept for the film festival so that it differs from others and becomes attractive to the film industry and to the audience,” commented Adilya Khaybullina.
In any case, all these are still ideas. Although Renat Mamin made it clear that there will be movement towards the development of the film industry in Almetyevsk. Time will show the direction.
By the way, Albina Nafigova suggested not to try to break the association of Almetyevsk as an oil city, but to use oil as a kind of gimmick.
“In my opinion, you can use the oil component of the city in a good way because oil is layers, a kind of vein, pulse. This can be easily reflected in creativity. Cinema is also a nerve and layers. Here you can find many variations for the creative packaging of the festival,” suggested Nafigova.
Ekaterina Petrova is a book reviewer of Realnoe Vremya online newspaper, the author of Poppy Seed Muffins Telegram channel and founder of the first online subscription book club Makulatura.