Fifth Annual Voices Film Festival in Vologda

The Voices Film Festival: Celebrating Young European Film

Vologda, Russia: July 2014

Justine Waddell joined the jury for the fifth annual Voices Film Festival (VOICES: Vologda Independent Cinema from European Screens), which focused on British film this year.

From calvertjournal.com: 

"With this year's festival focusing on British film, the event kicked off with a screening of Ken Loach's newest flick Jimmy's Hall. In line with the focus on emerging filmmaking talent, the programme has featured the debut film from 21-year-old Russian director and film student Vladimir Bek, Skinless (Bez Kozhi), which earned the young director the Grand Prix at this year's Movement National Film Festival of Debuts in the Siberian city of Omsk. 

British actress and jury member Justine Waddell, best known for her roles in the 2011 Russian film Target (Mishen) and the 2007 film The Fall, spoke to The Calvert Journal about the festival. She said: "It's a pleasure to be on the jury of a film festival, the competition strand of which focuses only on the first and sophomore films of European directors. They have a particular starting energy from their directors. It will be fascinating to see how that develops through each director's career. Vologda itself has a strong historical artistic tradition, so it's a very special place in which to watch these films." 

In contrast to last month's Moscow International Film Festival, which suffered from a number of foreign directors refusing to have their short films screened in Russia following the crisis in Ukraine, Waddell observed that Voices has not experienced any disruptions. She said: "In terms of relations between Russian and the UK, I know of other projects which have been cancelled outright. How the organisers of Voices have managed to get support in the face of these deteriorating diplomatic relations is really admirable." 

Waddell added: "Kirill Razlogov, the programme director of the Moscow film festival and juror at Voices said that at the Moscow film festival, some people felt they couldn't come due to sanctions. But here, because this festival is about supporting younger directors who are at the start of their filmmaking careers, political pressures haven't played a part the way they might with big name directors."

As well as films, the event features concerts, round table discussions, masterclasses and exhibitions, with two photography exhibitions - one from Russian photographer Gregory Yaroshenko about Britain, and another from British photographer James Hill about Russia. The festival will close on 8 July. "

Acting Governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov and British actress Justine Waddell smash a plate of happiness to the film festival was a success. 

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There is an interview with Justine Waddell in Russian on the DOC24 website. It's translation through Google is very rough and difficult to understand. But here is an interesting quote from Justine:

"Now all my time is spent on writing a screenplay on a novel by Virginia Woolf. Filming should begin in the fall, the film will be released next year. This is my first job as a writer."

Justine can be seen at the end of this video clip on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFEAYnA5Xok

Justine is featured on the guest list as a jury member of VOICES here:

http://www.voices-festival.org/ru/gosti

Justine's Biography for VOICES:

http://www.voices-festival.org/en/zhyuri

Sources: 
Images: http://doc24.ru/20495-moy-favorit-vinni-puh-po-russki.html
http://krassever.ru/articles/culture/cinema/45062/
http://novosti35.ru/czeremoniya-otkryitiya-voices.html
VOICES Festival Facebook Page

Info: http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/2809/voices-film-festival-vologda-young-european-cinema