Petersburg’s “Mirror of Russia” was shown in the Presidential Library

The screening of the film “Petersburg – Mirror of Russia” took place on December 4, 2019 within the framework of the X International Annual Multimedia Contest of the Presidential Library Foreign View on Senate Square, 3. This film is the series of documentary programs “Russia through the eyes of foreigners” of 365 Days TV Channel.

Each film includes statements, notes and memoirs of foreign travelers of different centuries about Russian cities, their inhabitants, mores and customs. The view of foreigners on Russia has always been special. On the one hand, they noted that the Russians themselves did not even consider it necessary to fix it, on the other, - they interpreted in their own way the historical events and customs of the Muscovites. Thanks to the series of programs “Russia through the eyes of foreigners”, viewers will be able to look at themselves, the history of their city or region from the side, agree or refute the impressions of “foreigners”. 

The editor-in-chief of the 365 Days TV Channel German Tregubenko, before showing the film, revealed a secret:

- The name of the film “Petersburg – Mirror of Russia” was suggested to us by one of the famous travelers, Charles Lutwig Dodgson, known as Lewis Carroll, who wrote about the capital of the Russian Empire: “It (Petersburg) is so completely unlike anything I've seen before that I probably would be happy already that for many days I just wandered around it, doing nothing more”. A few years after this journey, Carroll wrote his famous stories about Alice, who went through the mirror and found herself in a world where "everything is the other way around". This image accurately reveals our idea. In this series we wanted to show how the perception of the world depends on the angle of view, on the current political moment, on a special look at our country and history.

The fact that the film was screened in the Synod building on Senate Square in St. Petersburg is doubly symbolic. Combining historical traditions and the latest technologies, the Presidential Library forms a national electronic resource, which digitally presents books and periodicals, archival documents, newsreels, photographs, educational films, abstracts of dissertations and other materials which spotlight the long history of Russian statehood. Currently, the Russian Regions thematic collection contains about 100 collections that cover all 85 constituent entities of the Federation. This work today will be continued. 

Valentin Sidorin, Deputy Director General of the Presidential Library, noted: “It is necessary to represent Russian regions in a comprehensive manner, summarizing their historical, cultural, social, infrastructural and other features. Based on the regional collections of the Presidential Library, it is important to show not only the history of a particular territory, its sights and monuments, but also to cover today's life as actively as possible: talk about new museums, roads, theaters, stadiums, and about our wonderful contemporaries. Thus, we will work to develop tourism, attract guests from abroad and expand the internal tourist flow, which means to increase the number of friends”.

Another reason why the screening of the film “Petersburg – Mirror of Russia” took place at the Presidential Library is the institution's international multimedia contest - Foreign View, held for the tenth year in a row. This project is designed to capture modern reality, capture the identity of a single country, show the points of contact and interaction of cultures of Russia and the countries of the world in the field of religion, art, science, education, everyday life, and the environment. Thanks to this contest, it is possible to meet new people, their fates and way of life, see the multifaceted world of traditions of foreign countries and implement your impressions into digital format. Over the 9 years of the contest, 4815 people from more than 30 countries took part in it, 30567 photographs and 93 video works were sent. 

The jubilee X International Multimedia Contest Foreign View, dedicated to the Year of the Theater in Russia, is held under the motto “World as a Theater”. Participants' works will be accepted until January 14, 2020, and the award ceremony will take place in February 2020. The project participants will not only try their hand in the struggle for victory, but also get the opportunity to become part of the world community, which annually creates for future generations a digital chronicle of the most outstanding events of our time. Interesting, original photographs will be included in the photo album and, along with the best clips, will add the electronic collections of the Presidential Library. Further information about the project, as well as the registration form and call for entries are available on the website foreignview.prlib.ru.

After screening of “Petersburg – Mirror of Russia” film was held an exchange of views on the technological organization of the Foreign View Contest. Issues related to the development of tourism in St. Petersburg and the preservation of the urban environment, the introduction of electronic visas, the exchange of online travel experiences and, of course, the materials received from previous years, as well as the results of the UNWTO General Assembly Session, some of which took place at the Presidential Library, were examined.