Radiant Angel Film Festival

Radiant Angel Film Festival

Location	Moscow, Russia
Founded	2007; 17 years ago (2007) (as International Film Festival)
Awards	Grand Prix
Website	https://luchangela.ru/

The Radiant Angel Film Festival (Russian: Лучезарный ангел) is an international charity film festival, established in 2003 at the initiative of the Institute of Expertise in Educational Programs and State-Confessional Relations. It is dedicated to the Day of National Unity and the holiday of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (November 4). Since 2005, it has been held annually in Moscow in November. The status of "international" was gained in 2007. The festival has become a significant event in the social and cultural life of Russia and other countries.^[1] As of 2023, over 2,000 films have been shown within the framework of the film festival, and its screenings and other events have been attended by over 170,000 spectators.^[2] During the festival, guests are also offered masterclasses and creative meetings with masters of domestic cinema, premieres, and special screenings. Creative and educational activities are organized for children as well.^[3]^[4]

The film festival is held under the patronage of Svetlana Medvedeva, the president of the Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives.^[2] His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus' serves as the spiritual guardian of the film forum.^[5]

The festival's films are selected based on moral criteria, as stated by the festival's spiritual expert, Archpriest Konstantin Sopelnikov. He remarked that none of the films in the festival contain anything "offensive to the feelings, morality, or taste of viewers of any age.^[3]^[6]" The film festival preserves and advances the unique humanistic and artistic heritage of Russian cinema, as well as promoting works that uphold enduring spiritual and moral ideals, values of family, patriotism, and social harmony.^[7]

The festival's motto is "Good cinema returns".

Goals and objectives

Main goals

To acquaint the younger generation of Russia with the spiritual heritage of the motherland.
To revive children's, youth, and family cinema.
To initiate and support the processes of creating, producing, and distributing "Good cinema."

Main objectives

Preservation, development, and popularization of the tradition of cinema about spiritual and moral ideals.
Contribution to the upbringing of the younger generation and the people of Russia through filmmaking in line with the national spiritual, moral, and patriotic values of the homeland.
Introducing the younger generation to the discernment of good and evil.
Promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

Competition program

The film festival offers a variety of competitive programs,^[5] including:

full-length feature films
short feature film
documentaries
animated films

Grand Prix winning films

2007 — «My Love», Aleksandr Petrov — Russia
2008 — «Angel's Chapel [ru]», Nikolai Dreyden — Russia
2009 — «The Priest», Vladimir Khotinenko — Russia
2010 — «Night of a lifetime [ru]», Nikolay Khomeriki — Russia
2011 — «The last doll game [ru]», Georgy Negashev — Russia и «When will it snow?», Natalia Galuzo — Belarus
2012 — «Daughter (2012 film) [ru]», Alexander Kasatkin — Russia
2013 — «And Here's What's Happening to Me», Viktor Shamirov — Russia
2014 — «Test», Alexander Kott — Russia
2015 — «Borderless», Amir Hossein Asgari — Iran
2016 — «I'am a teacher», Sergey Mokritskiy — Russia
2017 — «Bolshoi», Valery Todorovsky — Russia
2018 — «The Age of Pioneers», Dmitry Kiselyov — Russia
2019 — «Sister (2019 film) [ru]», Aleksandr Galibin — Russia
2020 — «Happy as Lazzaro», Alice Rohrwacher — Italy/ Switzerland/ France/ Germany
2021 — «Padrenostro», Claudio Noce — Italy
2022 — «Palmira», Andrei Kravchuk — Russia
2023 — «Near the White Sea», Alexander Zachinyaev — Russia