Directors from different countries have brought their works to the 5th International Debut Film Festival in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk. They are to be judged by the jury presided by French director Leo Karaks.

Only two Russian films are participating in the event, and still many of the directors speak Russian.

Though Russian-born Kirill Mikhanovsky now lives in the United States, he shot his film in Brazil. The work entitled “Dreams about Fish” tells the story about life in a small Brazilian village. No professional actors were cast in the film – all the roles are played by the village natives.

“No actor could have played it. Those people with all their calluses and hunches from hard work, have a very special bearing and even gait,” comments Kirill Mikhanovsky.

Another film from the festival's programme is directed by Zhanabek Zhitiurov from Kazakhstan, who also shot a picture based on a true story about the life of a blind man working at a railway station. The director himself grew up in a small town by the station, and knew his film's main character in person.

Zhitiurov says he was only given just $US 20,000 and an old camera from the government. So oddly enough, many thought the film had been put together using expensive special effects.

How the festival's jury appraises this and many other works will be known on February 28.