Cinema without Barriers Festival

The "Cinema without Barriers" Festival has become on of the brightest and most memorable events of the 2010 Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympics. Over the four days of the Festival more than 70 feature films, documentaries and cartoons were shown, in addition to social advertising trailers that dealt with the problems of living with disabilities. Eminent directors from 18 countries, winners of awards and prizes at such well-known film festivals as the "Oscars", Sundance Film Festival, and The Other Film Festival, made disabled people and their amazing stories the main themes of their films. The Festival saw the presentation of films made by directors with disabilities.

The goal of the Festival's organizers - The Regional Society of Disabled People "Perspektiva" and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee - was to attract society's attention to the lives of persons with disabilities, their exceptional, the difficulties that they face on a daily basis, and to what every one of us can do to help them feel like valued members of society. The Festival's judging panel was made up of well-known figures in the arts, who : director Andrey Eshpay, actor Artur Smolianinov, singer and Ambassador for the Sochi Paralympic Games Diana Gurtskaia, actress Evgeniya Simonova, journalist Valery Panyushkin, director and activist for the rights of disabled people Yury Kuznetsov, director Galina Evtushenko, and Resident UN Coordinator in the Russian Federation, Frode Mauring.

Upon the Festival's completion, films were screened in Moscow, other Russian cities, and CIS countries, as part of the "Cinema without Barriers - Regional Echo" Project.

In only four years the Festival has screened around 400 films to more than 20,000 enthusiastic Russian cinemagoers.

The Festival closed with an awards ceremony: The Russian director Anna Belyankina received the Festival's Grand Prize for her film "Nika", and the Jury's Special Award went to actress Hila Mekier and director Dror Reshef for the film "Who are you to me?", shot in Israel in 2009. The Iranian director Nasser Zamiri received the UN Special Prize for the film "A Cozy Place for the Fish."

Winners of the Fifth Annual "Cinema without Barriers" Film Festival:

• Award for best documentary film: "Invitation to Dance - Body and Taboo", Gerhard Schick, 90 minutes, Germany, 2006;
• Award for boldest exploration of a topic: "A Good Man", Safina Uberoi, 79 minutes, Australia 2009;
• Award for most life-affirming film: "Anders and Harri", Asa Blank, Johan Palmgren, 13 minutes, Sweden, 2008;
• Award for the film that best breaks stereotypes: "More than Meets the Eye", Hap Kindem, 50 minutes, USA, 2010;
• Award for best socio-political film dealing with the problems faced by disabled people: "We Should be Together", O. Arlauskas, 26 minutes, Russia, 2010; "The Others", Zarina Fidarova,, 36 minutes, Russia, 2008);
• Award for Civic Stance and Protection of Disabled Persons' Rights: "Touch-line", Zamir Gotta, 26 minutes, Russia, 2009:
• Young Director Award: "All Day", Nadaradzhan Nadia, 11 minutes, Great Britain, 2010;
• Young Director Award for a Documentary Film: "We Can Shine - From Institutions to Independence", Adrian Esposito, 57 minutes, USA 2010;
• Award for Best Comedy: "My and My Wacky Doctor - on Our First Appointment!" Matthew Gurney, 11 minutes, UK, 2010;
• Award for Most Penetrating Story: "One Look", Alexis Mallet, 12 minutes, France, 2006;
• UN Special Prize "A Cozy Place for the Fish", Nasser Zamiri, 26 minutes, Iran, 2008; (A cozy Place For the Fish, Nasser Zamiri, 26 minutes, Iran 2008);
• The Jury's Special Award went to actress Hila Mekier and director Dror Reshef for successful collaboration: "Who are you to me?" Dror Reshef, 88 minutes, Israel, 2009; Dror Reshef, 88 minutes, Israel 2009);
• Grand Prize of the Fifth Annual Sochi Film Festival About People Living with Disabilities "Cinema without Barriers": "Nika", Anna Belyankina, 23 minutes, Russia, 2010. A. Belyankina, 23 minutes, Russia 2010)