The Pristine Russia festival will host Polar Day to show-case what can be seen in the Arctic specially protected natural areas and to highlight how important it is to take care of them. The festival will take place in Moscow, in the halls of the Union of Artists of Russia in the New Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.

Polar Day will open on February 19. Film screenings, lectures and quizzes on nature await adult and young visitors of the festival throughout the day.

12:15 Specialists from the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences will talk about what is being done today to protect whales. The protection of two species of whales is a priority of the Conservation of Biodiversity and Development of Ecological Tourism federal project of the Ecology national project.

13:00 Olga Krever, Deputy Head of the Roszapovedcenter of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia; Alexander Gruzdev, Director of the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve; and Vladimir Chernook, representative of Ecofactor, will talk about the Polar Bear Censusing carried out in 2022. The main purpose of the research is to monitor polar bears, clarify their number, update information on the age and sex structure of the subspecies, and assess the state of this population of the largest land predator and its habitats on the island.

14:00 Member of the Russian Geographical Society, photographer, air and ground videographer Vladimir Filippov will talk about the unique challenges and rewards of filming documentaries in the Arctic.

14:30 Director of the Russian Arctic National Park (Arkhangelsk Region) Alexander Kirilov will talk about the historical and cultural heritage of this region.

15:00 Employees of the Pasvik Nature Reserve (Murmansk Region) will talk about the nature protection of the trilateral border and the Far North.

15:30 Festival guests will learn about the various inhabitants of the Bear Islands Reserve (Sakha Republic): deer, Siberian cranes, polar bears, and whales.

16:00 Employees of the Kytalyk National Park, also located in Yakutia, will give a talk on the long migration route of the Siberian crane, which is classified as one of the rarest species of wildlife in the world. The lecture “Restoration of the Ob population of the Siberian crane in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area” will also address the conservation of the Siberian crane.

16:30 Representatives of the World Wildlife Fund will talk about the role of specially protected natural areas in the conservation of biodiversity in the Arctic.

17:00 Soyuzmultfilm film studio will present a new animated series, Umka. Maria Savinykh, the studio’s creative director, and her colleagues will share the secrets of animation in recreating the nature and spirit of the Arctic.

In addition to this, from 11 am to 18 pm, visitors to Polar Day can enjoy a film program. It will begin with the film “I Am a Polar Bear” directed by Maxim Pervakov. The film chronicles Russian scientists’ work in the Arctic and the long-term study of the polar bear in the protected archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. Afterwards, the audience will see popular science films from the series “Fyodor Konyukhov’s Ecumene” and pictures about the conservation of rare species of wildlife in the Arctic protected areas.

For visitors with children, there will be a game room and workshops: specialists from the Lena Pillars National Park will test all comers for dexterity, strength and endurance and teach them how to play the Yakut national games Khabylyk, Khaamyska, Tyksaan, Tyryynka; employees of the Russian Arctic National Park will help children pack a “polar explorer's suitcase,” and representatives of the Pasvik Nature Reserve will teach young guests how to create stone mosaic bears.

14.30 Young nature fans will be able to watch the Umka cartoon series.