FFM FESTIVAL 2016
Put simply, FFM 2016 was the finest festival of Russian and East European culture in America, offering:
• The very best feature films from Russia in 2016 – at UCLA's prestigious James Bridges Theater
• An entire day of the nation’s most exciting modern music at the Fowler Museum, including a chic VIP zone for sponsors within the museum itself
• Moscow’s most gifted classical musicians over three evenings at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall, collaborating for the first time in one storied venue
• The crème de la crème of Russia's illustrators and graphic novelists––in America's biggest exhibition of East European comics
• Three top chefs from the White Rabbit restaurant in Moscow, currently ranked #18 in the world. Together they sold out a hip Venice restaurant for three nights
Bringing together the brightest sounds from both classical and contemporary worlds, FFM 2016 offered audiences a uniquely broad vista across music today in Eastern Europe. FFM catered to lovers of both techno and tradition over three days of harmony and fashion
Carefully curated movies came to Los Angeles: the very best of Russia in 2016––all the way from tentpole feature films to cutting-edge documentary and animated releases for today's families. Audiences ranged from toddlers to renowned critics and industry leaders
In one of Venice's newest restaurants, FFM gathered three of Russia's best chefs. Together they offered Silicon Beach a rare taste of Slavic cuisine today. Time-honored recipes interwove with the most innovative, international trends in 2016
“В США уже бывали недели российского кино, но столь пестрых по числу охваченных смежных отраслей фестивалей не наблюдалось.
”
“Русская кухня
по-настоящему поразила гостей своей современностью, свежестью, легкостью, изяществом и безупречностью гармонии вкусов.”
“В течение одного декабрьского уик-энда в ЛA слушали новую музыку, смотрели новое российское кино и ужинали у топовых московских шеф-поваров.”
FFM 2016: Community Outreach and Press
Advertising was conducted all across the city. Ads were handed out on countless fliers at relevant SoCal shows; promotion on campus involved the Mikhail Baryshnikov event at Royce Hall. For three weeks, the festival had a full-page color ad in the Daily Bruin and the head banner on BruinWalk. Colorful ads decorated both dining tables and digital screens in each Residence Hall across UCLA.
Substantial funding was raised from banking and media sponsors, together with an appropriate vodka sponsor, allowing for an elegant VIP zone at Fowler during the concerts. The same donors also covered a Gala Opening before our opening movie, shot by director Pavel Lungin––who holds the Golden Palm from Cannes.
UCLA Newsroom sent a full-length article to its major mail lists, totaling 100,000 recipients. It included the following quote: “Learning need not be monastic; it can be considerably more fun and useful, too,” Professor David MacFadyen says. “We found good funding, worked with a famous Russian neighbor here on the Westside and produced a three-day event that joins us to considerable audiences beyond the campus and fosters long-term relationships with creative Los Angeles.”
The press coverage included: LA Weekly; The Calvert Journal; Russian Beyond the Headlines; Moscow’s citywide Afisha Magazine; the capital’s Kultura TV station; a slot on the country’s most popular chat show, Vechernii Urgant; the renowned TASS News Agency; Lenta.Ru; Novaya Gazeta; Russkii Mir; Nevskie Novsti; Word.Ru; PrimaMedia.Ru; Russian Business and Consulting (RBK); Moskovsky Komsomolets; VladTime; VistaNews; Hello! Russia; KinoAfisha; Letidor; Colta; ForumDaily.Ru; Teatral; ABN––and others.
Moscow’s culinary press spoke of the festival’s triumph in offering Russia’s “contemporary, fresh, light, elegant, and perfectly harmonious flavors” (Restoran.Ru). FFM co-organizer Ilya Lagutenko told the magazine Gastronom that the festival “showed Los Angeles the best of Russia’s modern music, both independent and classical. That was combined with similar experiments in film, art… and food.”
The festival sold out three nights in a modish Venice restaurant while holding these same values high. FFM found fans among UCLA students and Los Angeles communities alike.
“The Far From Moscow Festival exemplifies the charm and importance of true cultural exchange in the humanistic spirit. That UCLA can be host to the Festival is a boon to campus and to the LA community at large.” Dean David Schaberg, UCLA.
“Who knows more about Russian music than anyone else in the world? It’s an American. A Slavist from the University of California, Los Angeles” Novaya Gazeta
