Children's Christian films will be presented for the first time at the Magnificat-2009 festival

June 10, Minsk / Tatyana Pastushenko - BELTA /. Children's Christian films, including three animated ones, will be presented for the first time in the competition program of the V International Catholic Festival of Christian Films and TV Programs Magnificat-2009. The festival will be held from June 23 to 27 in the town of Glubokoe, the villages of Udelo, Mosar and Ives of Glubokoe district (Vitebsk region), Father Alexander Amelchenya, responsible for media relations at the secretariat of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Belarus, told a BELTA correspondent. This year, 40 films and TV programs from 15 countries, telling about all Christian denominations, will take part in the competition. Works from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Canada, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Albania, Italy, and Estonia will be presented. Countries such as Austria, Ireland, India, and Germany will participate in the competition for the first time. The competition program will be opened by the Italian film "The Bible Day and Night". Belarus will be represented in the competition by films and TV programs from the Belarusian Video Center, Belteleradiocompany, Vitebsk TV company "Skif", TV company "Workshop of Vladimir Bokun", and the studio of the Minsk Church of St. Simon and St. Helena - "Hard Romance", "Meeting", "Saint Josaphat", "If You Want to Hear, Look", "Our Lady of Rozhkovka", "Valentina Minskaya. Saint of the 20th Century". It is planned that the Apostolic Nuncio in Belarus, Archbishop Martin Vidovich, and Catholic bishops of Belarus will take part in the anniversary festival. The purpose of the festival is to view and evaluate Belarusian and foreign films and TV programs, and to preserve universal human values that are preached by various Christian traditions. The festival is organized by the Catholic Association for Communication SIGNIS-Belarus, the independent studio "Stopkadre", the editorial office of the cultural and religious magazine "Dialog", and the Vitebsk Diocese. In total, over the four years of the competition, about 200 works have been presented. Last year, the Grand Prix was awarded to the documentary film "On All Days" by the film studio "Belarusfilm".-0-