From September 4 to 8, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan will host the XXII Kazan International Altyn Minbar Film Festival that follows its unchanging motto, “Through the dialogue of cultures to the culture of dialogue”.

This year the official selection is supplemented by such nominations as Best Sound and Best Music.

The importance of new nominations was stressed by the executive director of the festival, Miliausha Aituganova, who said that “the participants of the festival and jury members have long ago noted the need to evaluate the contribution of the composers and sound engineers to the film production. With the suggestion of the chairman of the jury of the previous festival, a well-known composer and sound engineer, Resul Pookutty, this idea became more attractive.”

Resul Pookutty is one of the prominent Indian sound engineers, whose filmography includes more than 90 films, as well as international projects for BBC and Channel 4. In 2009, he was awarded an Academy Award for Best Sound at the Slumdog Millionaire film, sharing the prize with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp.

According to Resul Pookutty, “The new nominations for music and sound design will enrich the festival. Modern theaters equipped in a modern way following the technical requirements of SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) and Dolby provide a deep drowning in the sound design of a film. Sound is not just a background; it creates a story where it does not exist, controls the rhythm and the feeling of time, conveys the cultural code, and strengthens emotions.”

In his turn, Igor Sidenko, a sound engineer, composer, music arranger, and musician, also thinks that sound effects make a film more natural and the viewer finds himself inside the story.

Igor Sidenko believes that “when the music starts the dialogue with the picture, there appears something new that cannot be observed in music itself and the shot without music. It may be a new sense or even a philosophical depth that was not supposed by the director, screenwriter, or composer in particular. It is like the birth of a new spiritual being. That is the very magic of cinema: the art synthesis creates unique experiences that cannot be imagined in theater, literature, and music, in particular.” More than that, he composed music and worked as a sound engineer on more than twenty films, among which are Summer. City. Love, Three Hours before…, Shaman, Test by Aul, Chotkar, Are You Alive?, Baigal, and Bibinur.

The official selection of Altyn Minbar includes films reflecting universal spiritual and moral values and traditions, conveying the ideas of peacemaking, tolerance, and humanism.

For participation in the competition, one needs to send an application before June 1, 2026, to the email info@kazan-mfmk.com or fill in the special application form on the official website of the festival, http://kazan-mfmk.com/application Films made no earlier than 2024 are considered for the official selection.