The fifth annual festival of Russian Films has opened in the French capital on Wednesday. During the festival week, residents of Paris will get a chance to see the classics of Soviet cinema, alongside Russia`s latest productions.

The spring festival will open with Eldar Ryazanov`s comedy Carnival Night. Ryazanov specialized in comedy, satirizing the day to day life of Soviet people is extremely popular throughout the former USSR territories. Another work of one of Russia`s most beloved directors, The Girl with No Address, will close the festival week.

A total of some 20 old and new films will be screened throughout the festival. Among them the criminal drama Cold Summer of 1953 by Aleksandr Proshkin, the story of terror in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century, The Rider Named Death by Karen Shakhnazarov, Aleksey German`s Soviet criminal drama My Friend Ivan Lapshin, the last film by writer, director and actor Vasily Shukshin, Kalina Krasnaya (The Red Snowball Tree), another Eldar Ryazanov comedy, Beware of the Car, and many more. Some late works including Aleksey Uchitel`s The Edge are also on the menu.

The festival will run at the Elysees Lincoln Cinema through to May 10.
sections: Culture