Artdocfest is an international festival of original documentary films. Artdocfest presents the brightest non-format documentaries of all genres. It was established in 2007 by the Directorate of the Russian national non-fiction films award "Lavrovaya vetv" ("Laurel branch"). Artdocfest is held annually in Moscow (Russia), in the first decade of December. Since 2014, it has also been held in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(Russia) and

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

(

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

). In 2022, Mansky wrote that the festival “was destroyed by all that is happening in Russia today. This year almost all the films about current events were removed from the program. Even the festival video and print ads were censored. By the opening day the festival program had been completely censored. The festival was destroyed before it opened, and one way or another it would have been called off on March 31.”

History

The Artdocfest documentary film festival was first held in Moscow in 2007. It was organized by the Directorate of the Russian national non-fiction films award and Vitaly Mansky, who headed the jury. The festival was created to support and promote films of the professional competition "Lavrovaya vetv", primarily from the categories "Best author's documentary" and "Best debut". The first competition program included such films as "Herbarium" by Natalia Meshchaninova, "My class" by Ekaterina Eremenko, "Mother" by Pavel Kostomarov and Antoine Cattin,"Artel" by

Sergei Loznitsa Sergei Vladimirovich Loznitsa (born 5 September 1964) or Serhii Volodymyrovych Loznytsia, is a Ukrainian director of Belarusian origin known for his documentary as well as dramatic films. Biography Loznitsa was born on 5 September 1964 in the ...

, "Far to London" by Yulia Kiseleva. The first jury consisting of

Dmitry Bykov Dmitry Lvovich Bykov ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Львович Быков, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ˈlʲvovʲɪdʑ ˈbɨkəf, a=Dmitriy L'vovich Bykov.ru.vorb.oga; born 20 December 1967) is a Russian writer, poet, literary critic and journalist. ...

Aidan Salakhova Aidan Salahova (; born March 25, 1964) is a Soviet and Russian artist of Azerbaijani descent, gallerist and public person. In 1992 she founded the Aidan Gallery in Moscow. Salahova's works can be found in many private and state collections includ ...

and Boris Yukhananov awarded the Grand Prix to Svetlana Fedorova's film "Not scary". The festival instantly gained popularity and attracted about 10 thousand viewers. For most of them, this was the only chance to get acquainted not only with Russian author's documentaries, but also with the best pictures of foreign festivals. In the first years the winners of IDFA and Leipzig international film festival were shown in non-competitive programs. Also Artdocfest became a platform for German, Czech Republic and other national film industries to be presented in Russia. Since 2014, with the beginning of Russia's aggressive actions towards

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, Russian state structures began to put pressure on the festival and its head. In the same year, the Minister of culture of Russia

Vladimir Medinsky Vladimir Rostislavovich Medinsky (; born 18 July 1970) is a Russian politician, political scientist and historian who currently serves as an Aide to President Vladimir Putin. Previously, he has served as the Minister of Culture from May 2012 t ...

announced a ban on state support for all projects related to the festival. In the following years, pressure continued on the festival's partners. The Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation, major Russian officials and parliamentarians sued the festival for some contrived formal occasions. Persecution was organized in the state media, including the country's main TV channels. Festival audience halls were attacked, some people were harmed. In 2014, the festival's President Vitaly Mansky had to move in the

Republic of Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. In the same year, Artdocfest was presented with its documentary program in cooperation with the

international film festival RigaIFF for the first time. As the pressure on the festival in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

continued and censorship and administrative barriers are imposed to the free screening of the most vivid documentaries, the Latvian part of Artdocfest has expanded. In 2018, the entire competition and the work of the Artdocfest jury was transferred to Riga. And in 2019, the winners of the festival were also announced in the city. In 2020, the Riga international documentary film festival Artdocfest/Riga was created. The festival is organized jointly by the Latvian Directorate of Artdocfest, Biedriba Artdoc Fest & Media and leaders of the documentary film industry in the

Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...

. In 2022, Mansky wrote that the festival “was destroyed by all that is happening in Russia today. This year almost all the films about current events were removed from the program. Even the festival video and print ads were censored. By the opening day the festival program had been completely censored. The festival was destroyed before it opened, and one way or another it would have been called off on March 31.”

Online cinematheque Artdoc.Media

Online

cinematheque A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...

Artdoc.Media was created to overcome governmental censorship in Russia. In a situationin which any film that the authorities do not like may be banned and never shown in cinemas, online cinematheque is the only way for Russian viewers to see free, independent documentaries. In addition, Artdoc.Media acts as

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

for documentaries, storing data on all films created by authors from former Soviet countries.

References

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External links

Official websiteInstitute of documentary filmRussian documentary film festival fights censorship with 'Zapovednik'‘My Friend, Boris Nemtsov’ A documentary film about the murdered politician comes to Russia's ArtdocfestMoscow Artdocfest to show documentary films from Post-Soviet Central Asia‘Stalin is dead. Long live Stalin!’
Film festivals in Russia