Russian film festival kicks off in Beijing

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- With eight contemporary films covering comedy, war and thrillers, a six-day Russian film festival started here Friday evening as a key activity for the "Year of Russian language" in China.

The opening film, Aleksandr Strizhenov's "From 180 and Higher" (2006), which tells a comedy of a short man's dating experiences with women taller than 180mm.

"Russian cinema always excels at reflecting humanity, wars and history with poetic images," said Fu Hongxing, curator of the China Film Archive, the festival's organizer. "But in recent years, Russian filmmakers have also made breakthroughs in making films with more entertaining factors."

War thriller "Turkish Gambit," directed by Dzhanik Faiziyev and Filipp Yankovsky's crime story "The State Counsellor" (2005), among the eight movies, are both based on Russia's best-selling author Boris Akunin's series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin."

The eight films, all released between 2001 and 2006, also include "The Island" (2006) by Pavel Lungin and "A Driver for Vera" (2004) by Pavel Chukhraj, who was nominated for a Golden Lion in the Venice Film Festival held in 1997.

Pavel Lungin won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for "Taxi-Blues" (1990).

"Russian cinema has always played an essential role in the world cinema history, and its films have influenced many Chinese generations," Fu said.

According to Fu, the China Film Archive will also screen several classical films made during the Soviet Union period as additional activity for the festival.

"We hope Chinese audiences will also enjoy the beauty of contemporary Russian films," Fu added.