THE Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Philippines will be screening classic Russian films in selected venues in Metro Manila, Cebu and other major cities in the country to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Victory Day over the Nazis during World War II.
Here in Cebu, film showings were held at the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus College of Architecture and Fine Arts Theatre last March 12.
A second screening will be conducted on March 30 at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center in sitio Sudlon, barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
More screenings are also scheduled in the following weeks leading to May 9, which is celebrated in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union as Victory Day in what they call the “Great Patriotic War” against Nazi Germany.
Armi Lopez-Garcia, Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation and Chair of the Philippine-Russian Business Assembly, said the classic films are intended to be shown to Filipino students and general public as well as Russians residing in Cebu.
The films showcase personal stories of courage, love and friendship amidst the Russian people’s heroic resistance which played a decisive role in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during the Second World War.
The featured films include Soviet film director Mikhail Kalatazov’s war drama “The Cranes Are Flying” (1957) which won the Palme d’Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival; “Normandie-Niemen” (1960) directed by Jean Dréville and Damir
Vyatich-Berezhnykh; “Ballad of a Soldier” (1959) directed by Grigori Chukhrai; Director Sergei Bondarchuk’s “They Fought For Their Motherland” (1975); “Destiny of a Man”; (1959) and Nikolai Lebedev’s “The Star” (2002).