The festival of Auteur Cinema will be held in Moscow from December 1-7 and will once again hold a film market.

The 5th Open Russian Auteur Film Festival "Winter" will be held in Moscow from December 1-7, 2026. The festival opens the acceptance of applications for the main competition program, as well as for the Winter Cinema Market of Auteur Cinema, which will once again become part of the professional screening program. Applications in both directions are accepted until October 20.

The new image of the Winter Festival is dedicated to Moscow and the tradition that has gradually developed around the festival. The visual concept is based on the winter city, a walk along Znamenka and Gogol Boulevard to the Khudozhestvenny cinema and a trip to the festival cinema as a special Moscow cultural ritual. For the fifth year in a row, "Winter" has become a part of December Moscow, and the new image combines the two main images of the festival — cinema and the city.

"Over the past five years, Zimny has become a platform where we not only summarize the results of the Russian film season, but also try to create conditions for auteur cinema to continue its life after the festival. Last year, we held a Film Market for the first time and saw its concrete results: projects found producers, received the attention of distributors, platforms and festival selectors. Therefore, this year we continue to develop this area and once again we want to bring together authors and those who can help their films meet the audience in one space," said Maxim Korolev, general producer of the festival.

"Winter" is entering its fifth season, and it is still crucial for us to look for a movie with a pronounced author's voice. We are waiting for films that offer their own view of modernity, are not afraid of the new film language and talk to the audience honestly and freely. Every year, the competition becomes a kind of portrait of Russian auteur cinema here and now, and we are very interested in how it will turn out this time," said Natalia Mokritskaya, Program director of the festival.

Feature films of at least 60 minutes in length produced in 2025-2026, which have not previously been broadcast on television, have not been released for cinema, DVD and VoD rentals, and have not been posted in online cinemas and online platforms, are accepted for participation in the main competition.

Films can be submitted by film companies, film studios, independent producers, distributors and other copyright holders. Applications are accepted until October 20, 2026 at otbor@zimnyfest.ru .Following the results of the competition, the Main Prize of the festival will be awarded, as well as awards for best director, best screenplay, best male and female roles and best visual solution.

The Winter Cinema Market of the author's Cinema will be held as part of the festival, a professional platform created so that promising projects can find partners and continue their journey to the audience. Young directors and producers will present their work to distributors, representatives of online platforms, festival selectors, producers and other industry participants. The curator of the Film Market is Hanna Mironenko, a film critic, producer and expert of international festivals.

Projects in the filming period and post-production, as well as fully completed paintings, are accepted for participation. Applications are accepted until October 20, 2026 at filmmarket@zimniyfest.ru . A link to a film fragment of at least 15 minutes must be attached to the application.

The cinema market of author's films is developing in two formats: the winter one is held as part of the Winter Festival, and the summer one is held as part of the New Movement Festival of young Cinema. The 2026 Summer Film Market has already brought concrete results to its participants. After participating in Pavel Sedov's film "Elektroson", a producer joined, and the project continued to work at the postproduction stage. The creators of "House Rules" have found an agent who promotes the film to genre festivals, and the film itself has attracted the attention of distributors and online platforms. The Legends Without a Number team began negotiations with major producers, and the festival selectors were also interested in the project. Sergey Osipyan's "The Lightest Boat in the World" received an invitation to the competition program of the Window to Europe festival, where its premiere took place. Grigory Kalinin's film "80 Beats per Minute" was presented at the Shorter Festival, where it received a special prize from the Rossiya 1 TV channel "For Faith in the human Heart."

In 2025, the main winner of the "Winter" was Vladimir Golovnev's "Scurvy". The film won the Main Prize of the festival, as well as awards for best screenplay and best actor, played by Nikita Efremov. The award for best director was given to Savely Osadchy for the film "The Bird Boy".

The films of the competition program were evaluated by a jury chaired by director Alexander Veledinsky. It also includes director Yuri Bykov, actress Ekaterina Vilkova, actor Denis Vlasenko, producer Julia Mishkinene and film critic Ivan Kudryavtsev.

The founders of the festival, as in previous years, will be the Alliance Film Company and the Russian Cultural Foundation. The film festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The Winter Open Russian Auteur Film Festival is held to support and promote Russian auteur cinema, develop young talents, and promote film distribution in Russia. The program director of the festival is Natalia Mokritskaya, the general producer is Maxim Korolev.