Ildar Khalikov takes part in opening ceremony of XII Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema

On September 5, Prime Minister of Tatarstan Ildar Khalikov, along with thousands of spectators attended the opening ceremony of XII Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema at Piramida complex, Kazan.

The presentation of Tatarstan filmmakers, who made contribution to local cinematography, was new at the ceremony. Artists, film directors, script writers, producers, and operators were invited to the red carpet and were introduced to the audience. Among them were participants of previous festivals, and students, who presented their films at the contest of 2016.

Welcoming participants of the festival, Ildar Khalikov expressed his gratitude to filmmakers for their daily work aimed at presenting Islam as a religion of humanism and friendship.

The speech of Chairman of the Union of Muftis of Russia Ravil Gainutdin was emotional and permeated with sadness for conflicts happening today between fraternal people. He called everyone for achieving peace to build temples and educate children in the spirit of their values.

Organizers of the ceremony mentioned the 120th anniversary of Gabdulla Tukai and showed a video about key moments of the cinema development.

Chairman of the judges, film director Aleksandr Proshkin said that nothing is more important than the dialogue of civilizations and cultures, and sincere attitude to each other today. He added that he expects a lot from this festival because it presents cinematography of ancient cultures, countries with enormous traditions and world cinema.

This year 60 films from 33 countries will be presented at the festival.