On August 26, speaking at a briefing at Tatarstan Government House, Tatarstan Deputy Minister of Culture Gouzel Nigmatullina said that most nominations of the 10th Kazan International Muslim Film Festival to be held on September, 5-11 comprise films made in Tatartsan.

“This year our festival is especially successful in terms of Tatarstan films. Almost all nominations, except for full-length documentary, include films made in Tatarstan,” she said.

More than 500 applications from 56 countries were submitted this year. For the first time, Brazil and Argentina sent their films to participate in the festival. On August 1, the selection commission concluded its work, with 50 films from 20 countries included in the competition programme. The Deputy Minister noted that 90 per cent of the pictures were premieres.

This year’s festival coincides with the Year of Culture and Kazan being the cultural capital of the Turkic world, as well as the 90th anniversary of film distribution in Tatarstan. “All these events will be duly represented in the festival programme,” the speaker said.

The festival budget will total to about 15 million roubles, as it was in previous years.

This year’s festival will feature an extensive out-of-competition programme that will include short-length films made by young Tatarstan authors. Portuguese films, an extensive Iraq programme and British teen movies will be presented as well. The Oscar House programme that includes short-length feature films found in the Oscars' short list will be offered to the younger audience.

The films included in the competition programme will be shown at the Rodina, Mir, Kinomax, Kinomechta and Tatarstan Peoples’ Friendship House cinemas.