The XVIII International Film Festival "Russian Abroad" will be held in Moscow from November 7 to 14, 2024, as well as in an online format. This year, the festival program will feature more than 50 game and non-game paintings dedicated to understanding the history of Russia of the twentieth century, the spiritual, cultural and scientific heritage of the Russian world. Thematic events and exhibitions will be held.

The jury of the non-fiction film competition this year will be headed by film director, screenwriter, producer, winner of the highest awards of international film festivals Svetlana Bychenko (Russia). The jury will also include film director, screenwriter, producer, TV presenter of Belteleradiocompany Sergey Katyer (Belarus) and film director, screenwriter, producer Dmitry Liu (China).

The chairman of the jury of the feature film competition is a popular theater and film actor, author and singer of songs Alexander Mikhailov (Russia), the jury members are choreographer, founder of the Russian folk stage dance ensemble "Rusichi", public figure Alexander Ilyin (Australia) and chairman of the charity association "Around Russia", public figure Kira Ryushti (France).

The competition of feature films included films telling about the history of the Auschwitz death camp, about the creators of the national martial arts – sambo, about how art is able to overcome illnesses, as well as a multi-part detective film, the events of which affect the life of the Orthodox Old Believer community in Argentina.

The rich program of non-fiction films features the works of famous masters of modern documentary cinema: Natalia Gugueva, Sergei Debizhev, Marina Trush, Igor Kholodkov and other directors. The films introduce the circumstances of the life of compatriots in different countries and tell about what motivates people born abroad to return to their ancestral homeland – Russia.

Russian Russian War Veterans will be shown a number of paintings dedicated to memorable dates: the 120th anniversary of the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the 110th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Russian Veterans of the Great War in San Francisco, the anniversaries of the birth of philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, artists Ilya Repin and Alexei Bogolyubov, director Vsevolod Meyerhold, writers Anastasia Tsvetaeva and Vladimir Nabokov.

"Our outstanding expatriate compatriot, engineer Alexander Ponyatov, whose inventions marked the beginning of the video era in the middle of the last century, said: "Life is meaningless without a contribution to humanity." I would like these words to become the motto of those who will come to study the art of cinema tomorrow. And our festival will continue to serve the cinema, which does not call to enjoy, does not relish vice, does not drown, in Hollywood, for the need of time, in lies," says the president of the International Film Festival "Russian Abroad" film director Sergei Zaitsev.

The forum provides for a program of films by domestic and foreign authors telling about a special military operation conducted by Russia on the western borders of the country.

Among the events of the forum, meetings will be held with the chairman of the international Association of the Musin-Pushkin Family, Andrei Musin-Pushkin (France), public figure Natalia Zaika (Australia), Honorary Consul of Russia in Rio Grande do Sul Jacinto Anatoly Zabolotsky (Brazil).

During the opening ceremony of the festival, the Mikhail Chekhov Medal 2024 will be awarded. Russian Russian Way Award was established by the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad and the Russian Way Film Studio and has been awarded since 2008 to prominent cultural figures from different countries "For outstanding achievements in the field of cinematography and theatrical art." The name of the new medal winner will be announced during the award ceremony.

The detailed program of the forum is published on the official Internet resources of the festival. Admission to film screenings, themed events and exhibitions is free. Online broadcasts of ceremonies and evenings are planned. Most of the films will be presented on the forum's website according to the screening schedule.

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The Film Forum was established in 2007. Russian Russian Way House and the Russian Way Film Studio with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Rossotrudnichestvo, the Moscow City Duma, the Heritage Foundation of the Russian Diaspora. Russian Russian Culture Forum is aimed at popularization of Russian culture and consolidation of the Russian world.

Over the years, the audience has been presented with more than 650 feature and documentary films devoted to the history of Russia of the twentieth century and the Russian abroad.