Moscow 2002

Abstract

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2002 Some highly plausible reasons were given by the organizers of the 24th Moscow International Film Festival (21-30 June 2002) for scaling down the budget to approximately half of last year's 3 million rubles (circa $1 million as fluctuating exchange rates go). According to one insider, the budget remained the same as before, but some outstanding debts from previous years had not yet been paid off. Also, since a blowout festival is planned for the 25th anniversary in 2003, the 24th outing was stylized as a modest showcase of better things to come. Nikita Mikhalkov, MIFF's president, opened and closed the festival in Gorky Park, on the very spot where he has regularly expressed hopes to erect a festival headquarters of appropriate representative proportions in the near future. Hollywood VIPs -- Bob Rafelson, Harvey Keitel, Holly Hunter, among others -- were invited to breakfast with...