In its auspicious return this year, the Russian Film Week delivered an even greater assortment of films, workshops and post-screening Q&A sessions. However, the keynote scheme that was emphasised at the opening press conference was the festival’s budding new partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Their combined efforts resulted in a persistent fundraiser effort for the WWF Amur Tiger Conservation Project in Russia. To powerfully illustrate the sobering reality of the preservation effort, each screening had a disheartening short film that unflinchingly showed the majestic creature in its most exposed and vulnerable state.

With this in mind, the Science Museum hosting the opening premiere felt appropriately fitting. The Museum’s renowned IMAX theatre screened Russian’s recent Science Fiction picture- Attraction and the film’s director Fyodor Bondarchuck was on hand with some insightful points. Despite, its new-found stature, the Russian Film Week has not lost the ethos at the heart of its creation, which is using Russian film as a means to establish a communion and fellowship between two nations.