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A selection of Russian films will screen in-person during the Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff) through a collaboration with the new Russian Film Festival, part of an effort by both governments to promote Russian cinema in China and cultural exchange.

The Chinese festival is set to run from Sept. 17 to Sept. 30 as an in-person event after being pushed back from its typical April release date due to the pandemic. Given its close ties to Chinese film authorities, it is often a platform to showcase works from countries with which China hopes to strengthen political ties.

The Russian Film Festival is a program targeting international audiences via a series of online screenings organized by state-run Roskino and backed by Russia’s ministry of culture, in response to the global shutdown of cinemas amid the pandemic. Last year, the festival was held online in Australia, Mexico, Spain and Brazil. This year, it has gone up in Argentina,...

While cinemas worldwide have spent the better part of this year shuttered or operating at limited capacity, few film industries have felt the pain quite like Russia’s, which generates roughly 80% of its revenues from theatrical receipts, according to Evgenia Markova, head of the Russian film promotion body Roskino.

But while local profits have plummeted, Russian producers continue to find growing interest from foreign buyers, with Markova pointing to strong sales at Mipcom and at the Key Buyers Event, a virtual showcase for domestic productions that took place this summer.

“The Russian industry has learned to adapt to all the new circumstances,” she says. “It became more flexible, and more responsive to the needs of the global market.” A number of high-profile Russian projects will be introduced to foreign buyers during AFM, beginning with “Major Grom and the Plague Doctor,” a big-screen adaptation of the hit comic-book franchise from Bubble Comics.

Klim Shipenko's Salyut-7, a historic space epic, was awarded 2017’s best Russian movie at the Golden Eagles ceremony, which was held at Moscow’s film studio Mosfilm on Jan. 26.

Andrei Zvyagintsev picked up the best director’s award for Nelyubov (Loveless), which recently earned an Oscar nomination in the best foreign language film category.

Anastasiya Palchikova collected the best screenplay award for Bolshoi, a story on the iconic Russian theater, directed by Valery Todorovsky.

Irina Gorbacheva, the female lead of Aritmiya (Arrhythmia), a drama directed by Boris Khlebnikov, collected the best actress trophy, and Yevgeny Mironov was awarded as the...