Genre: Fantasy

Duration: 100 mins

Format: 35mm

Director: Anton Megerdichev

Cast: Svetlana Ivanova, Ivan Zhidkov, Elena Panova, Sergei Ugryumov

Following the tradition of past festivals, where Night Watch, Day Watch and Black Lightning garnered a cult following, 2011 sees Dark World, a supernatural fantasy based on Russian folk tales. A group of students travel on a folklore expedition to a number of isolated northern villages. In one of the villages, the main character – a girl fascinated by mysticism and the romanticism of life beyond the grave – finds an ancient tomb and in it a magical shield. When she touches the shield, she awakens the slumbering spirits and brings their anger down upon herself, while at the same time acquiring superhuman abilities. The students get caught up in a drawn-out struggle against the powers of evil. Dark World is a fun and exciting trip into the complex world of evil. As the director Megerdichev notes, "the result can be absolutely unpredictable because the border between the good and the bad is hard to see, but easy to cross."