Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk will host the International Film Festival from December 4 to 7, with film directors presenting their work to residents of Kotlas, Nyandoma, Kargopol, Konosha, and Severoonezhsk, Plesetsk District, as part of the Big-Time Cinema for Small Villages program.

A business program dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the drive to open up the Northern Sea Route is planned as the key event at the Arctic Open-2025. Film-makers, scientists, cultural experts, historians, tourism industry representatives, business people, and the authorities will hold a debate on The Northern Sea Route: Culture, History, and Future. Creating the Image of the North, the Northern Sea Route, and the Arctic.

Applications are accepted until October 1, 2025, on the festival website. The festival directorate will present a shortlist of competitors on November 10.

More than 2,500 applications from about 100 countries are submitted each year, with nearly 70 films finally selected. This year, these will be categorized to four groups:

∙ Feature-Length Film,

∙ Documentary Film,

∙ Short Documentary,

∙ Films for Children and the Youth.

Directors of popular science films and documentaries will be awarded a special prize in the form of participation in an expedition of the Arctic Floating University-2026.