The nominees for the Third National Film Award "Heroes of a Big Country" have been announced

On the eve of Heroes of the Fatherland Day, the organizers of the National Film Award "Heroes of a Big Country" announced a shortlist. Of the 532 feature films, documentaries, and animated series submitted for the film award by their creators, 55 projects reached the finals.

The film award focuses on assessing the content and impact of cinema on viewers, the socio—economic effects of projects implemented in the domestic film industry on the development of science, technology, industry, youth education and demography.

The selection process took place in two stages: first, experts and 120 volunteers, including expert teachers and students from the HSE Film Institute, evaluated "industrial quality" - acting, directing, cinematography, and sound quality, matching images and symbols to Russian culture, and others. Further, the projects were evaluated according to the complex criterion "17 values — the image of a hero". A jury of well-known and respected representatives of the film industry and experts on the impact of content will determine the winners in 20 nominations.

Media holdings and leading film companies, federal channels, online platforms, independent producers and news agencies participate in the film awards. According to Mikhail Churbanov, the general producer of the film award, the selection task was not only to assess the industrial quality of the projects, but also to check how convincingly the authors managed to declare the image of the hero.

"The film Award sets a high bar — few of the 532 participants managed to fully match the basic set of "17 values" and create truly images of "heroes of a big country." 55 shortlisted projects have reached this goal as close as possible. And we see the mission of the film award precisely in developing a dialogue about the content, quality of the art form and the impact of cinema on the audience and the development of the country on a national scale. It is important for us to promote high quality and success, first of all, to those colleagues who did not reach the finals. But this is how we will be able to revive the culture and competencies of creating spiritual and moral content throughout the film industry, and help authors work with values consciously rather than intuitively," Mikhail Churbanov noted.

The name of the project "I am a mother" speaks for itself, and these are three stories of successful happy women with three, four and seven children. Among the shortlisted projects is the series "Lilies of the Valley. Such a tender love" is a story about a girl major, the daughter of a rich dad, who returns to Russia from London and accidentally meets a young tank officer. Maxim Fadeev's documentary tetralogy "At the Edge of the Abyss" is a poignant story about the defenders of Donbass and the storming of Mariupol, which has won Russian online platforms with high ratings and a huge number of viewers. The painting "Not on the list" based on the novel by Boris Vasiliev is another attempt to comprehend the feat of the defenders of the Brest fortress. And "My Friend, the Cat and Pushkin" and "Curious Varvara" are excellent examples of good movies for children and teenagers, which were sincerely accepted and loved by a young audience.

"We see that it is becoming crucial for large manufacturers and large platforms to have projects in their portfolio that feature accurate images of heroes, convey our traditional values, and provide talented examples of service, responsibility, and professionalism," says Mikhail Churbanov. — According to the program agreed with the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, the Film Awards Forum will be dedicated to these challenges. And the screenings of the shortlist for the youth audience and the study of the impact of films on their views and life decisions will become the occasion for a broad discussion and professional conversation about the characters and meanings of cinema as one of the main tools for shaping our today and our tomorrow."

The film award "Heroes of a big country" (heroes of a big country.Russia) will summarize the results at the forum on February 5-6 at the Rossiya National Center, established on behalf of President Vladimir Putin. At the ceremony, the jury will announce the names of the winners in 19 industrial and semantic categories, and the main award, the Big Gold Star, will traditionally be awarded to the best film project.