< The 9th ARCTIC OPEN IFF Has Announced Its Call Open>
The International Film Festival ARCTIC OPEN is heading into its ninth season. Scheduled for December 4-7 in Arkhangelsk, this year’s festival will be screening in six municipalities of the province and involve international jury. Its program features training and business sessions under the umbrella of the 500th Anniversary of the Northern Sea Route—this year’s core theme.
“Every year, the festival receives over 2,500 submissions from 106 countries, of which around 70 enter the Official Selection. Our international jury is to select best film, best screenplay, best director and best cinematographer in each category, and to award our special prizes to best debut and more. The festival holds on its sidelines film labs, retrospective screenings, and special programs and promotions—ARCTIC OPEN Children, ARCTIC OPEN Barrierless, Big Cinema to Smaller Screens, Arctic Outdoor Cinema, Festival Films Night,” ARCTIC OPEN Programming Director Angelika Dolinina shares the festival’s plans.
Traditionally, the selected films compete in four categories: feature films, documentaries and short films, with children’s films comprising a separate category. Popular science documentaries are welcome to compete for the top special prize—the travel onboard the Arctic Floating University-2026.
ARCTIC OPEN welcomes submissions until October 1, 2025 on FilmFreeway and its official webpage. Our programming team will announce the shortlist of on November 10.
ARCTIC OPEN 2025 will have among its highlights a series of sessions dedicated to the 500th Anniversary of the Northern Sea Route. It will bring together cinematographers, researchers, cultural scientists, historians, tourism sector, business community and government to discuss “The Northern Sea Route: Culture, history, future. Shaping the Image of the North, NSR, Arctic”.
The task before the training sessions are, traditionally, to explore the historical and cultural legacy of the Russian North and the Arctic, involving adult and child inhabitants of the Arctic Region in creating videos, cartoons and films about their homeland.
This will be the second year in a row the festival will be holding the IT Quest “Make Your Movie”. This virtual game has become truly popular, involving 1,200 northerners in 2024 and +23 families who made their first mini-films on the theme “A Family of North.” All winners of the IT quest walked the carpet in the local M.V. Lomonosov Drama Theater and were awarded valuable gifts from ARCTIC OPEN’s partners.
“What makes this quest unique is that it is a step-wise process accompanied by training. This year we are going to run it for third time, on a different theme—Make Your Movie. The Arctic Begins Here,” said IT quest developer Ivan Ovsyankin.
Another training activity that first started on the sidelines of the ARCTIC OPEN last year is the Amateur Cartoon Pitch. Held among the children’s animated film studios in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation, the first pitch attracted contestants from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Republic of Karelia, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk. The upcoming pitch is expected to involve at least ten studios and will feature a series of workshops. Acting as the jury will be the animation directors and screenwriters of SoyuzMultfilm.
As last year, the December screening sessions will be available for people with impaired hearing and vision: films with sign interpretation and audio description will be screened in the scientific library of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University.
Not only with the northerners be able to see recent releases of the film industry, they will meet their creators and be able to talk with more filmmakers from Russia and abroad as part of the festival’s training sessions and cultural programs.
Traditionally, the selected films compete in four categories: feature films, documentaries and short films, with children’s films comprising a separate category. Popular science documentaries are welcome to compete for the top special prize—the travel onboard the Arctic Floating University-2026.
ARCTIC OPEN welcomes submissions until October 1, 2025 on FilmFreeway and its official webpage. Our programming team will announce the shortlist of on November 10.
ARCTIC OPEN 2025 will have among its highlights a series of sessions dedicated to the 500th Anniversary of the Northern Sea Route. It will bring together cinematographers, researchers, cultural scientists, historians, tourism sector, business community and government to discuss “The Northern Sea Route: Culture, history, future. Shaping the Image of the North, NSR, Arctic”.
The task before the training sessions are, traditionally, to explore the historical and cultural legacy of the Russian North and the Arctic, involving adult and child inhabitants of the Arctic Region in creating videos, cartoons and films about their homeland.
This will be the second year in a row the festival will be holding the IT Quest “Make Your Movie”. This virtual game has become truly popular, involving 1,200 northerners in 2024 and +23 families who made their first mini-films on the theme “A Family of North.” All winners of the IT quest walked the carpet in the local M.V. Lomonosov Drama Theater and were awarded valuable gifts from ARCTIC OPEN’s partners.
“What makes this quest unique is that it is a step-wise process accompanied by training. This year we are going to run it for third time, on a different theme—Make Your Movie. The Arctic Begins Here,” said IT quest developer Ivan Ovsyankin.
Another training activity that first started on the sidelines of the ARCTIC OPEN last year is the Amateur Cartoon Pitch. Held among the children’s animated film studios in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation, the first pitch attracted contestants from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Republic of Karelia, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk. The upcoming pitch is expected to involve at least ten studios and will feature a series of workshops. Acting as the jury will be the animation directors and screenwriters of SoyuzMultfilm.
As last year, the December screening sessions will be available for people with impaired hearing and vision: films with sign interpretation and audio description will be screened in the scientific library of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University.
Not only with the northerners be able to see recent releases of the film industry, they will meet their creators and be able to talk with more filmmakers from Russia and abroad as part of the festival’s training sessions and cultural programs.
