Following the great success of last year’s programme, the 2009 festival once again consists of some of the best award winning films from Ireland. Among this year’s presentation will be Breakfast on Pluto, starring Cillian Murphy and Liam Neeson, the multi-Oscar nominated My Left Foot with Daniel Day Lewis, John Huston’s The Dead, starring Angelica Huston, and Neil Jordan’s scintillating The Crying Game.

Opening the festival is the breakout hit, A film With Me in It, a dark comedy set in contemporary Dublin. The Festival closing gala screening will be the hugely popular musical The Commitments. We’re also pleased to present the Russian Premiere of last years Cannes Camera D’Or prize winner, Hunger.

Our programme also includes a selection of the best Irish short films ever made entitled Short and Bitter Sweet featuring directors such as Martin McDonagh, Hugh O’Connor, and IFF festival organiser, Johnny O’Reilly. We will also be presenting Micha/Lestnitsa Sveta, a Russian-language film set in St.Petersburg, starring Igor Kostolevsky, but made by an Irish writer/director and Festival organiser, Gerard Michael MacCarthy.

This year, we are particularly proud that the Festival will take place as part of the Embassy of Ireland’s official celebrations of Ireland’s National Day, St. Patrick’s Day in Russia. We’re delighted to invite you to the festival and look forward to seeing you at the Khudozhestvenniy between March 25th and 29th.