In contemporary geopolitics, culture, and cinema in particular, is one of the key tools of soft power—shaping a country’s image in the world. The third National Cinema Award “Heroes of a Great Country,” to be held on February 11-12 at the National Center “Russia,” extends far beyond a professional industry event. It is a large-scale project with a state-level objective: to rethink the role of cinema as a tool for shaping culture, preserving history, and projecting the future.
As a digital publication closely monitoring projects that define Russia’s cultural sovereignty and international image, “Embassy Life” sees this initiative as a significant step towards creating a cultural code that is both comprehensible and appealing to a global audience. The award, implemented with the support of the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, honors films and series that create the image of a contemporary hero, whose actions are based on fundamental values: service, family, collectivism, and responsibility.
The Forum: A Laboratory of Meaning for a New Cinematic Language
A central event will be not only the award ceremony but also the substantive “Heroes of a Great Country” Forum. Here, representatives of the film industry, government, science, and business will seek answers to key questions during panel discussions: What themes and heroes does the country need today and are in demand by viewers? How to create compelling cinema that speaks of traditional values yet avoids preachiness?
A separate innovative format will be the award’s Meaning Centers — “Heroes and Cinematic Universes 2030” and “Values in Cinema and Content.” These are working laboratories where leading producers and experts will develop practical solutions using special methodologies. Their goal is to restructure the culture of domestic film production to achieve the strategic task: to increase the share of projects promoting traditional values to 70% by 2030. As the research program curator Tatiana Tretyakova notes, it is important that “the form attracts a mass audience and ‘works’ for deep content.”
The Competition and Jury: In Search of the Ideal Balance
A record 532 applications were submitted for the third “Heroes of a Great Country” Cinema Award. The shortlist, selected based on strict criteria of “industrial quality” and alignment with “17 values — the image of a hero,” includes 55 top projects, such as the well-known series “Lilies of the Valley. Such a Tender Love,” “Catherine the Great,” and “Doctor Vera.”
Winners in 19 categories, from “Heroes of Science” to “Heroes of the Family,” will be determined by the authoritative Jury of the “Heroes of a Great Country” Cinema Award, which includes industry practitioners, researchers, and psychologists. Special attention will be paid to the impact of the works on the youth audience. The award’s General Producer Mikhail Churbanov emphasizes: “We must learn to ‘assemble’ a hero based on our traditional values… The industry’s success cannot be built on projects that destroy our identity.”
International Resonance and Strategic Partnership
The significance of the award is underscored by the caliber of its partners, which include Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation) and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. This indicates an understanding of cinema as a strategic resource for internal consolidation and external cultural policy. The winning projects, shaping spiritually and morally oriented cinema, have the potential to become Russia’s calling card abroad, offering the world a positive and constructive model of heroism.
For the diplomatic and export community interested in promoting Russian culture, this event is a unique opportunity to witness from within the process of forming a new cultural canon.
Registration for the forum is open on the website: героибольшойстраны.рф (heroesofagreatcountry.rf).
The digital publication “Embassy Life” is an information partner of the National Cinema Award “Heroes of a Great Country.”