MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian film festival will take place in Israel on October 15-20, a Russian Filmmakers' Union senior official said Wednesday.
"About 10 Russian movies will be shown in four Israeli cities - Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Naim," Yury Kolosov said. "The festival program is the result of joint Russian-Israeli creative work."
Kolosov said the program featured several Russian box office successes: Filipp Yankovsky's "State Counselor" and "Battalion 9", and Fyodor Bondarchuk's 2005 production, which has so far brought in almost $15 million.
Also on the program is Andrei Kravchuk's directorial debut "The Italian", a drama focusing on problems of foreign adoptions of Russian orphans, which has been nominated for an Oscar.
This year's productions "Poor Relations" by Pavel Lungin, Yegor Konchalovsky's "Escape", Larisa Sadilova's "Needing a Nanny" are also high on the program list.
The event, organized by the Russian Filmmakers' Union and the Russian and Israeli Foreign Ministries, will be opened by Russian Culture and Mass Communications Minister Alexander Sokolov and the Union chairman Nikita Mikhalkov, a prominent actor and producer.
Sokolov said the films would later be shown at an international film festival in Cairo and in China, which will host a Week of Russian Cinema in November.
