Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen Participates in a Meeting of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence on Public Life, Culture, Science, and Information

June 23, 2026. Moscow. A meeting of the working group “The Church and Cinema: Prospects for Cooperation in the Protection of Traditional Values” of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence on Public Life, Culture, Science, and Information was held in a hybrid format at the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The meeting was chaired by Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, Chairman of the Commission and Head of the Publishing Council.

The moderator was Nikolai P. Burlyaev, Head of the working group “The Church and Cinema: Prospects for Cooperation in the Protection of Traditional Values,” First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil Society Development and Issues of Public and Religious Associations, and President of the International Slavic Arts Forum Golden Knight.

Participants included members of the Commission of the Inter-Council Presence on Public Life, Culture, Science, and Information: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Vicar of the Astana Diocese, and Archpriest Vladimir Vigilyansky; Secretary of the working group “The Church and Cinema: Prospects for Cooperation in the Protection of Traditional Values” and Secretary of the State Duma working group “Society and Culture” V.G. Leontyev; and invited experts, including A.G. Semenyuk, Program Director of the Golden Knight Film Forum; I.N. Dyadchenko, member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation and the organizing committee of the Light to the World Film Festival; N.V. Kononenko, member of the Board of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation and jury member of the Radonezh Film Festival; A.Yu. Zakharova, leading specialist at the Moscow State Pedagogical University’s Center for Film Education and Media Culture; S.V. Gerasimova, producer of the Meeting Film Festival; Doctor of Psychology M.Ya. Dvoretskaya; N.V. Aleksevtseva, Head of the Ryazan Regional Representative Office of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation; film directors S.A. Podivilov, N.V. Fedchenko, and V.G. Timoshchenko; together with staff members of the Publishing Council—Hieromonk Augustine (Pirogov), M.A. Kireev, and V.A. Kuritsyna.

Opening the meeting, Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk recalled that cinema, like books, “speaks for a long time and remains in people’s memory,” emphasizing that what it ultimately brings to society depends on those who create it.

The presentations focused on the ethical and aesthetic foundations of cinema, the need for broad and well-rounded education among filmmakers, and the relationship between emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence—and genuine artistic creativity in film production.

Throughout the meeting, participants repeatedly stressed that films should be created on the basis of traditional moral values and that directors need meaningful feedback from audiences.