This year, SIFFA takes place in the heart of London in Piccadilly at the Vue Cinema. This is its 13th edition and its 9th year in London.
Additional screenings and events, including master classes and artistic, literary and musical events, will be held at three other venues. These are Castle Cinema in Hackney, where the legendary Charlie Chaplin first appeared on stage; Pictures House in Ealing Broadway, the very first cinema hall in the history of Britain, and Room2 in Chiswick, the festival will culminate with a glamourous awards ceremony in the Wonderville, cabaret club at Haymarket in the prestigious West End of London.
The line-up of feature films includes an adaptation of the glorious world classic Tolstoy’s “War and Peace by Sergei Bondarchuk and “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears” by Vladimir Menshov, both of which received Academy Awards; and “The Double”, 2013 a British film written and directed by actor and comic Richard Ayoyade of the IT crowd but based on the 1846 novella “The Double” by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The competition program was announced for documentary and short films only. The festival received films from USA, Russia, Great Britain, Afghanistan, Iran, Spain, Brazil, Belarus, India, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Turkey, Netherlands, and Senegal.
“Our festival is truly building bridges between different cultures, bringing peace and understanding to our divided international community. Cultural dialogue is growing now as never before. We hope and believe that promoting understanding and tolerance today is the only way to keep this world from disaster. We believe that working with people's hearts, minds and souls can make a real difference” -, Luba Balagova, SIFFA Founder.