TOMSK CHILDREN'S AND YOUTH FILM FESTIVALS AND STUDIOS: THE EXPERIENCE OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH CINEMA REVIVAL
Authors:   Tomsk State University (Tomsk, Russian Federation), Sennikova Veronika V. 
Published: December 2021

Regional film festivals are part of the film process and play a special role in the formation and preservation of national and cultural identity. The author of the article refers to the regional children's cinema festival. This topic is relevant because children's filmmaking is given very little attention in the space of contemporary culture (These are films made by the children themselves). We characterize this cinema as the artistic practice of “small cinema with great meaning”. The purpose of research – to identify the specific features of the cinema, as a product of children's creativity. In the course of the work, the following tasks were solved. Firstly, the features of the organization of children's film festivals and educational film studios (in Tomsk region) were studied. Secondly, an analysis of the artistic and imaginative specificity of children's cinema is given. The study was conducted on the material Children's Film Festival "Bronze Knight", the children's film studio "On a cloud" (Tomsk). Our research has shown that the experience of the regions demonstrates the success of the institutionalization of the practices of children's film-making in the format of film festivals, as well as in the form of organizing film schools. At the same time, an important organizational feature is the set guidelines for children's creativity. There are content priority setting; the need to determine value-semantic guidelines, attention to professional training; emphasis on the development of creativity, etc. Analysis of children's films, presented at the International Film Festival "Bronze Knight", enabled us to identify the characteristics of their artistic-figurative system. On the one hand, there is an orientation toward the Soviet film tradition with its distinct guidelines for the transmission of cultural value-semantic attitudes and special aesthetics. This is manifested, firstly, in themes, plots and heroes (humanistic values are glorified, respect for each other and love for their homeland, people and culture are instilled; a positive hero striving for good deeds; the presence of creative and instructive elements, a craving for intellectuality); secondly, in artistic aesthetics (close-ups, landscape photography; foreshortening; even rhythm, experiments with color: sepia, aged shots). On the other hand, there is an appeal to the modern cinema language, with its priority attention to visual effects, dynamics of frames and rhythm, including youth discourse (slang, neologisms). On the other hand, there is an appeal to the modern cinema language, with its priority attention to visual effects, dynamics and rhythm, including youth discourse (slang, neologisms). Thus, it should be noted that the ideological core of the artistic and imaginative system of children's films is based on the traditions of Russian cinema aesthetics, while maintaining a craving for intellectuality and spiritual and moral themes, while the visual embodiment combines the traditions of Soviet cinema and the means of modern cinema language.