Three Russian-language films at once are participating in the Cannes Film Festival: Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, The Meek by Sergei Loznitsa and Closeness by Kantemir Balagov.

      Loveless and The Meek have been selected to take part in the main competition.

      Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev is opening the festival, though it was completed just a few days ago. It is a psychological drama about a family breakup, complicated by the loss of a child.

      The Meek by Sergei Loznitsa is a modern screen version of Dostoevsky's story, previously filmed in the USSR and France. It was filmed in multilateral European co-production with France, Germany, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Born in Belorussia and living in Germany, Sergei Loznitsa is considered to be a Ukrainian film director. However, the film is in the Russian language and features Russian actors from the Nikolai Kolyada Theatre in Yekaterinburg.

      The Special Screenings competition includes Closeness by Kantemir Balagov, a graduate of Alexander Sokurov’s course at the Kabardino-Balkar University. It is a grim psychological family drama set in his native city of Nalchik in the late 1990s. The beginning film, director is also participating in the Best Debut contest, the winner of which receives the Golden Camera.