Igor Sukmanov: movie festival Listapad has become a major cultural event.

        The Minsk international movie festival Listapad emerged as a review of pictures and now it has become a major cultural event. The statement was made by Igor Sukmanov, Director of the Feature Film Program of the Listapad 2012 Film Festival.
        It began as a Russian Cinema Week. In conditions of the complicated 1990s, when the movie distribution system came crushing down, it was impossible to show Russia-made movies on the big screen. “After that ambitions grew larger and everything evolved into a cinema festival,” said Igor Sukmanov.
      “Creating a professional platform is one of the important steps we should take in the future. It is a complicated task,” said the film critic.
      “When we say that the Cannes festival is awesome, that it attracts Catherine Deneuve, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, we should not forget that they visit the festival not for the sake of red carpets, cocktails, and all the hustle and bustle. They come to the festival to work, to promote their movies that sell,” said the Program Director.
       He added that if there is a star, the movie will sell. The Cannes festival relies on that and therefore all the deals of the century take place there.
      “But we are absolutely not ready for it today”. He suggested that incremental steps should be taken. “As a concept, our festival is interesting in the international format. Now we have to master a professional part of it”, he stressed.