The main prize of the Spring in Paris film festival was awarded to Karen Shakhnazarov

The third Russian film festival Spring ended in Paris, where Karen Shakhnazarov received the main prize for contribution to world cinema. This year the organizers dropped the competition program, showing about 30 Russian films and preparing a special program for the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev's Ballet Seasons, as well as the first Shakhnazarov retrospective in Paris. The festival also faced difficulties, a shortage of new films with French subtitles, the impact of the crisis and the strike, but interest in it is gradually growing.

The organizers of the third Russian film festival "Spring" in Paris presented Karen Shakhnazarov with an award for his contribution to world cinema; meanwhile, they decided not to hold a competitive program this year. The “Spring” festival has been held for the third year in a row at the “Lincoln” cinema, located near the Champs-Élysées. Over the course of a week, Parisians saw about 30 Russian films, including relatively new ones – Karen Shakhnazarov’s The Vanished Empire, Nikita Mikhalkov’s 12, and Mikhail Kalatozishvili’s Wild Field.
The leadership of the “Spring” festival prepared a special program this year, timed to the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes,” which made Russian art famous in Paris. The organizers also presented the first retrospective of Karen Shakhnazarov’s films in Paris.
However, this year the festival rules, at the request of the cinema management, changed - the jury did not choose a winner among the nominees. Shakhnazarov was awarded the main prize not for The Vanished Empire, but for his contribution to Russian and world cinema, and the composer in the film Wild Field, Alexei Aigi, received a diploma for artistic contribution to cinema.
Unfortunately, the festival’s popularity is suffering because of the small number of new films, as well as the lack of films with French subtitles, which are not so easy to obtain in Paris. In particular, the French film distributor Kinovista provided the festival with a copy of Mikhalkov’s 12 with English, rather than French, subtitles.
-There were about as many guests as last year. I would like there to be more, but for that we need support from the Russian Ministry of Culture; we need to be provided with copies of new films with French subtitles, - said the festival president, director Mireille AntoineAntoine.
She noted that the success of "Spring" was also affected by the economic crisis and the national strike, which on the second day of the festival prevented many people who wanted to get to the cinema from doing so.
The festival is of interest mainly to the Russian public, however, according to Antoine, more and more French students who are learning Russian are coming.