The IV International Documentary Film Festival "RT.Doc: The Time of our Heroes"

The start of the IV International Documentary Film Festival "RT.Doc: The Time of Our Heroes" was held at the National Center "Russia".

In parallel, screenings of the festival's films were launched with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo in 22 countries — Abkhazia, Armenia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Zambia, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, South Ossetia and for the first time — in Japan. Documentaries will also be shown in Donetsk.

"The Rossiya National Center was established by Order of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as a space of pride, a place where people talk about the achievements of the country and the people of whom we are truly proud. And we are proud, first of all, of our heroes who are on their own today, who are able to make decisions, who make the choice to be brave every day. They know how to take responsibility not only for themselves, but also for their country and its future. And our responsibility is to hold events such as "Rt.Doc: The time of our heroes." Russia Today is spreading the truth all over the world. The memory and gratitude of the exploits of our heroes should remain with us forever," said Anastasia Zvyagina, Deputy Director General of the National Center for Russia.

The general producer of the festival "RT.Doc: The Time of Our Heroes" Ekaterina Yakovleva focused on the mission of the project — overcoming information barriers and building cultural bridges.

"Last year, we held 17 festivals around the world, which is a global reach. Our viewers watch movies and begin to understand what is really going on. We hear this in every country and in every city. People are tired of the falsehoods that are too obvious in the Western media," Ekaterina Yakovleva said.

The world-famous director Emir Kusturica performed at the opening ceremony of the festival in Moscow.

"Until recently, it was almost impossible to watch Russian documentaries in Eastern Europe. They have been unavailable to us for the last 20 years — until Russia Today started showing them. Some called these materials propaganda. I've seen a lot of good films about the war. And I want to say that propaganda is not a documentary. Propaganda is a distortion, and a documentary should be based on facts...> We should remember: being a patriot does not mean being a propagandist. You need to be a patriot and a documentarian at the same time," said Emir Kusturica.

The audience saw the premiere of RT's war documentary.Ekaterina Kitaytseva's doc "Reconstruction of the soul of Donbass". The tape is about the restoration of churches in the liberated regions. For believers, the revival of shrines is a kind of rebirth of a soul crippled by war.

The guests of the evening were particularly impressed by the performance of the famous singer Elena Sever. She performed the song "Bring back the Memory" to the poignant words of Maria Zakharova. Honored Artist of Russia Yuta also sang her military hits.

The opening ceremony was held to incessant applause. There are two more days of intense program ahead. The audience will see the best films about their recent years and premieres. Among them is a new documentary by the famous screenwriter and director Tatiana Borscht, "Bloody Puppets of the West." The film is about female politicians, whose common feature is a thirst for power, side by side with bloodlust.

An equally anticipated premiere is the film "My Hero" by military commander Anastasia Mikhailovskaya. The film contains the memories of the relatives and colleagues of the military doctor Roman Bezrukov, who died at the front, saving others.

The business program of the second and third days of the festival includes round tables and meetings with stars, soldiers, military officers, authors and heroes of documentaries. Among the participants are philosopher and political scientist Alexander Dugin, Commissioner for Human Rights in the LPR Anna Soroka, Chief of the General Staff of the All-Russian Children's and Youth military-patriotic public movement Yunarmiya, Hero of Russia Vladislav Golovin (call sign String), military commander of the Volunteer Corps of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Pavel Kukushkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Sergey Futo, Italian journalists Angelo D'Orsi and Eliseo Bertolasi, Belgian documentary filmmaker Alexander Penass, Turkish director and soloist of the Yorum music group Sena Ercoc.