Vladimir Grigoriev is Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.'

4th Russian Film Festival, 29 October – 7 November Dear Friends! The Russian Film Festival is getting ready to present London with this year's best premieres in Russian cinema. The Main Programme As always, the main festival programme showcases the best Russian films, award-winners at major international and Russian film festivals. These films include, 'Silent Souls' (Ovsyanki), directed by Alexei Fedorchenko and winner of three prizes at the Venice Film Festival, 'How I Ended This Summer' by Alexei Popogrebsky, awarded prizes for best actor and best cinematography at the Berlinale, 'One War' by Vera Glagoleva, Grand Prix winner at Sofia International Film Festival and Russia's nomination for the Oscars and Svetlana Proscurina's latest film 'The Truce', winner of the main prize at Kinotavr. As in previous years, guests include directors, producers and actors who come to London specially to present their films at the festival. Documentaries – 'Noughties Art' This year's documentary programme sums up the last decade with screenings of the ten best Russian documentary films, one for each year. The programme is presented by the great director and documentary maker, Vitaly Mansky, president of the ArtDocFest. Animation Alongside the main programme and documentaries, we have also put together a comprehensive and diverse programme of animation. As part of our festival 'Astral dogs Belka and Strelka' take a trip to outer space captained by director Inna Evlannikova, while Irina Evteeva, famous for her graceful and original style, brings 'Little Tragedies' to the screen. These films will capture the hearts of adults and childen alike. As well as an extensive programme of full length animation, we will be screening a special programme for our young audiences, presenting the best of award-winning Russian animated films of recent years Special Screenings This year's film festival also includes a retrospective of the great actor and director Sergei Bondarchuk's films and the works of Leo Tolstoy on film, as well as a retrospective of masters of Soviet and Russian animation. Venue For the fourth year in a row the Russian Film Festival will take place at the Apollo Piccadilly, one of London's best cinemas.

Vladimir Grigoriev is Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.'

26 May
Moscow
On the 26th of May, the names of the writers shortlisted for the 'Big Book' literary prize were announced. 13 authors have been shortlisted. Two of the shortlisted books were entered into the competition as manuscripts: Mariam Petrosyan's 'The House Where'and Andrei Baldin's 'The Extension of the Full Stop'.

Apollo West End
The legendary Moscow film club, founded by the brothers Igor and Gleb Aleynikov, present their special collection of short films – a collage of soviet news chronicles, conventional sketches and animations on the subject of constant revolution.

7 min; USSR, 1987
A collage of soviet news chronicles, conventional sketches and animations on the subject of constant revolution.

Documentary maker
George Carey has been making documentaries for over twenty years. He started as a news journalist in the BBC, where he created Newsnight before moving on to become Editor of Panorama.

Apollo West End
The legendary Moscow film club, founded by the brothers Igor and Gleb Aleynikov, present their special collection of short films – a collage of soviet news chronicles, conventional sketches and animations on the subject of constant revolution.

Vladimir Grigoriev is Councillor to Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.' Born in 1958, Vladimir Grigoriev worked as an editor for the Novosti news agency from 1982 to 1990, after which he founded and headed the publishing house Vagrius. Vladimir Grigoriev has worked unflaggingly to promote and support the publication of Russian books and the protection of authorial rights during the difficult, transitional period from the old publishing protocol inherited from the former Soviet Union to the establishment of a new, market-oriented, internationally recognized modus operandi. He has been honoured with prizes in recognition of his work for services to Russian publishing and the dissemination of literature and culture not only in the Russian Federation (2001), but also in Poland (2005) and in France (2006). Grigoriev is also one of the founders of the prestigious book prize ‘Bolshaia kniga' (‘Big Book') - the second largest cash award, after the Nobel Prize. His unique insights into the increasingly buoyant and expanding market for Russian books makes him an extremely interesting and valuable speaker.

Award-winning translator and scholar of modern Russian literature, was a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School and read Russian and Italian at Oxford. After graduating in 1998, he lived in Poland and Russia, where he worked as an editor at the Moscow News and The Moscow Times . He has also written for the Times Litarary Supplement and the New Statesman. He recently completed his doctorate at Wolfson College, Oxford. He has translated The Zero Train and The Prussian Bride by Yuri Buida. Oliver Ready's translation of The Prussian Bride was awarded the inaugural Russian Translation Prize in 2005.

Vladimir Grigoriev is Councillor to Head of the Russian Federal Agency for the Press and Mass Communications and he is a tireless campaigner and champion of Russian literature and culture at all the world's major book fairs: he has famously said, ‘Russian literature should know no boundaries.' Born in 1958, Vladimir Grigoriev worked as an editor for the Novosti news agency from 1982 to 1990, after which he founded and headed the publishing house Vagrius.