Mintimer Shaimiev and Irina Bokova take part in the opening ceremony of the 14th Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema

On September 4, at the Pyramida Entertainment Complex in Kazan, the 14th Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema, which has been held under the motto "through the dialogue of cultures - to the culture of dialogue" since 2005, was opened in Kazan.

Tatarstan State Counsellor Mintimer Shaimiev, the former UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, Chairman of State Council of the republic Farid Mukhametshin, Tatarstan Minister of Cuture Irada Ayupova, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation Ravil Gainutdin and other officials attended the opening ceremony.
The festival is founded by Tatarstan Ministry of Сulture, Kazan Сity Administration and Russian Council of Muftis and is held under the patronage of Tatarstan President.
Since 2017, the festival has been held in partnership with the "Russia – Islamic world" Strategic Vision Group, which is headed by Tatarstan President. The Russia-Islamic world group established a special prize "For the dialogue of cultures in the Islamic world".

Mukhametshin greeted the audience on behalf of Tatarstan President, the State Council of the republic of Tatarstan, Regional Government and the general public of the region.

Shaimiev and Bokova went to the stage next.

Bokova noted that she has arrived in Tatarstan for the third time, earlier she came to Kazan to hand in certificates of inscription of the Bolgar historical and archeological complex and the Dormition Cathedral and the monastery of the island-town of Sviyazhsk and into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 and 2017 accordingly. She also reminded that a year ago in this hall, on this stage, she had a great honor to invite Shaimiev to become the UNESCO Special Envoy for intercultural dialogue.

In his welcoming speech, Shaimiev noted that the interest of the international community to the Kazan festival is growing every year, as well as the number of participants and the number of films. "If 40 films from 12 countries were announced for the first festival, in the current 14th festival there are already about 1,000 applications from 56 countries. This is a victory," he said.

Shaimiev wished the participants of the festival success, victories and the most important to live with humane aspirations.