The Hope Factory by the young Russian film director Natalia Meschaninova will take part in the competitive program of the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

      Altogether the competitive program includes 15 movies.

      The film by Meschaninova is a story about a 17-year-old girl named of Svetlana who dreams of leaving her hometown of Norilsk by all means.

      The Hope Factory is the first independent feature film Natalia Meschaninova, who is a graduate of the Marina Razbezhkina Documentary Film and Theater School. Natalia Meschaninova is known as "School" worked as the codirector of Valeria Guy Germanikas series The School and the director of a few documentaries, My World (2006), The Herbarium (2007) and Good Intentions (2008) among them.

      Two more Russian movies will take part in the Rotterdam festival. Alexey Germans work Hard to Be a God will be screened in the Spectrum program that includes outstanding and innovative works from all over the world, and Another Year by Oxana Bychkova will be in The Big Screen Award program aimed at supporting movies in the Dutch distribution.

      The Rotterdam International Film Festival will run from January 22 to February 2. Annually held since 1972, it is considered to be one of the most prestigious European festivals, on a par with Cannes, Venice and Berlin festivals.