Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema facts for kids
The Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema (KIFMC) is a special movie festival that started in 2005. It happens every year in early September in the city of Kazan, Russia. This festival brings together filmmakers from Russia, Muslim countries, and all over the world. It's a place for them to meet, share ideas, and work together on new movies.
Even though it's called a "Muslim Cinema" festival, people of all faiths can join in. The main goal is to show movies that share important values and cultural traditions that are good for everyone.
When the festival first began, the idea was for it to travel between different Muslim regions in Russia and other countries. Kazan was chosen as a key city because it's known as the biggest Islamic city in the northern part of the world.
The festival became very popular around the world, especially in Islamic countries. Because of this success, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan decided that the KIFMC should become a permanent cultural symbol for Kazan. So, Kazan became the festival's home, and its name was added to the festival's title.
Contents
Who Organizes the Festival?
The Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema is put together by several important groups. These groups are called the founders:
- The Ministry of Culture Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan
- The Russian Mufties Council
- The Administration of Kazan city
The festival also gets help and guidance from other high-level groups. They support and oversee the event:
- The President of the Republic of Tatarstan
- The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
What Kinds of Movies Are Shown?
The festival program includes different types of movies. Filmmakers can enter their movies into a competition, or their films can be shown outside of the competition.
Main Competition Categories
Movies in the main competition are judged to win awards. Here are the types of movies that compete:
- Full-length feature movies (like the movies you see in cinemas)
- Short-length feature movies (shorter films with a story)
- Full-length documentary movies (long films about real events or people)
- Short-length documentary movies (shorter real-life films)
- Animation movies (cartoons or animated films)
Non-Competition Screenings
Some movies are shown at the festival but are not part of the competition. This allows more films to be shared with the audience. These include:
- Feature movies
- Documentary movies
Award-Winning Films from Muslim Countries
The festival also shows movies from Muslim countries that have already won awards at other international film festivals. This highlights great cinema from these regions. These can be:
- Feature movies
- Documentary movies
How Do Movies Get Selected?
Filmmakers who want their movies to be part of the festival need to send in their applications and films by certain dates.
Only movies made after January 1, 2011, are accepted for the competition. The festival prefers to show movies that are having their very first public screening in the world or their first international screening.
For the main competition, a certain number of movies are chosen for each category:
- At least 12 full-length feature movies
- At least 15 short-length feature movies
- At least 10 full-length documentary movies
- At least 15 short-length documentary movies
- At least 12 animation movies
The festival's selection committee finishes choosing the movies by August 1st. If a movie is accepted, the filmmakers need to confirm their participation by August 10th. The final copies of the movies must also arrive at the festival's management office by August 10th. It's very important for everyone to follow these dates and rules.
