Saint Petersburg International Film Festival (Russian: Са́нкт-Петербу́ргский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. Sánkt-Peterbúrgskiy mezhdunaródniy kinofestivál; abbreviated as SPIFF) takes place as part of the Saint Petersburg international film forum. This is Saint Petersburg's first competitive international festival for feature-length fiction films.
2013 boycott
On 22 August 2013 media reported that Wentworth Miller would boycott the festival—to protest against laws banning "homosexual propaganda" in Russia.
2012
Competition Programme
There were 14 films from different countries selected for the 2012 competition programme: White Elephant / Elefante blanco, 2012, dir. Pablo Trapero, Argentina-Spain Our Children / À perdre la raison, 2012, dir. Joachim Lafosse, Belgium-France Children of Sarajevo / Djeca, 2012, dir. Aida Begić, Bosnia and Herzegovina-Germany Invasion, 2012, dir. Dito Tsintsadze, Germany-Austria Off White Lies / Orhim le-rega, 2011, dir. Maya Kenig, Israel-France Hotchpotch / Shir tou Shir, 2011, dir. Ebrahim Forouzesh, Iran War Witch / Rebelle, 2012, dir. Kim Nguyen, Canada La playa DC, 2012, dir. Juan Andrés, Colombia Kolka Cool, 2011, dir. Juris Poškus, Latvia The End / Al Nihaya, 2011, dir. Hisham Lasri, Morocco I Also Want It / Ya tozhe hochu, 2012, dir. Alexei Balabanov, Russia Inside / Yeraltı, 2012, dir. Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey Captive, 2012, dir. Brillante Mendoza, Finland-France-Germany-Great Britain Road North / Tie Pohjoiseen, 2012, dir. Mika Kaurismäki, Finland
The opening and closing films
The festival's opening film
Le grand soir, 2012, dir. Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern, France-Belgium
The festival's closing film
Shadow Dancer, 2012, dir. James Marsh, Great Britain-Ireland
Out-of-competition programmes
The out-of-competition programmes showed films which displayed the most recent trends in world cinema as well as several retrospectives. 2012's festival had 11 out-of-competition programmes: Shooting Stars EFP Bergman-Andersson-Donner (for the 30th anniversary of the release of I. Bergman's film Fanny and Alexander) Movies with a taste of Honey Movies of India without songs and dances The Unknown Lenfilm Films from East Asia Films from Nordic Countries Landmarks of Berlinale’s Forum (the best films from the International forum of young cinema Screenings in Honour of Filmmakers (Emir Kusturica, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Aku Louhimies, Mihael Kalatozov) Please meet: Jerusalem IFF Premiere Before Premiere (pre-release screenings)
The Jury
President of the Jury
Emir Kusturica, Serbia (Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Actor, Composer) Jury Aku Louhimies, Finland (Director, Scriptwriter, Producer) Erika Gregor, Germany (Film Historian, Expert) Gilli Mendel, Israel (Director of Film and Media Education at the Jerusalem Film Center) Elena Yatsura, Russia (Producer)