On Monday, December 14, the grand opening ceremony of IV St.Petersburg international cultural forum took place on the new stage of Mariinsky Theatre. During the event there was the hand-over ceremony from the Year of Literature to the Year of Russian cinema. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin participated in it.

Within the framework of the solemn opening ceremony of IV St.Petersburg international cultural forum, which began today on the New stage of Mariinsky Theatre, the hand-over ceremony from the Year of Literature to the Year of Russian cinema took place. Well-known cultural figures from Russia and foreign countries, special guests and governmental officials took part in the grand opening.

In his speech Vladimir Putin summed up the results of the outgoing year and noticed that one year was not enough for fundamental changes in lives of Russians. However, according to President, several successful and useful project have been realized for this period such as, for instance, a VGTRK project "War and Peace. Reading the novel" and the festival "Books of Russia" when over half a million books were sold in three days. Vladimir Putin emphasized that the Year of Literature must not ever come to the end. He also pointed out that the incoming Year of Cinema will become no less fruitful. "Without doubt, the incoming Year of Cinema will be interesting, bright and creative, it will be another step toward the establishment of high moral principles and aesthetic tastes in our society. We will remember all the great achievements of our cinematography, we will try to find the best solutions for the development of the domestic film industry." - said President.

Among the participants of the ceremony there were Svetlana Kryuchkova, Nikita Mikhalkov, Valeriy Todorovskiy, Konstantin Ernst, Alena Babenko, Anatoly Bely, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Danila Kozlovsky, Alexander Pahl, Sergei Puskepalis Anton Shahin, Filipp Yankovsky, Leonid Yarmolnik, Alexander Yatsenko as well as actors of the theatre-studio "Small drama theater" and mimans of Mariinsky Theatre.

Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pavel Petrenko, performed for the audience. The director of the grand hand-over ceremony is Alexei Agranovich, art director - Igor Gurovich, lighting designer - Alexander Sivaev.

In October President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a decree on holding the Year of Russian cinema in 2016. In this regard, the Government of the Russian Federation was commissioned to create the Organizing Committee, headed by the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky.