The Pacific Meridian International Film Festival is Russia’s first and only film event dedicated to the cinema of the Asia-Pacific countries, the region that includes much of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, as well as Russia and the Americas. The festival brings together filmmakers from about 60 countries and screens approximately 200 films every year.
Pacific Meridian is a competitive film festival. Its competition is open to feature and short films produced in the Asia-Pacific countries. The competition includes 10 full-length and 10 short films. The number of applications is increasing every year, but only 20 films are selected for the competition.
The winners of the competition are selected by a professional jury. The festival has two major awards, the Seashell Award and the Starfish Award. The Seashell Award is presented in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Director, and Special Jury Award. The Starfish Awards are given to the best actor and actress.
There also is a number of special awards, including the Audience Choice Award, the Yul Brynner Award, the FIPRESCI Award presented by the International Federation of Film Critics, and the NETPAC Award presented by the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema.
Along with competition screenings, the program of the festival includes non-competitive screenings of films of all genres, length and formats. Non-competitive programs include Panorama (most prominent Russian and international film events), In Focus (films of a specific genre or made in the Asia-Pacific country of choice), retrospectives, and open-air screenings. The festival also features cultural and business events, such as lectures, discussions, round tables, workshops, art exhibitions, concerts, meet-the-audience sessions, business meetings, and more.
Photo: pacificmeridianfest.ru
