The first International Film Festival "Commonwealth", uniting filmmakers from the CIS countries, will be held in Kazakhstan, reports the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

The decision to create a new international film festival was made at a meeting of an expert group in Minsk, where representatives of nine CIS countries agreed on a draft regulation on the festival.

According to the adopted documents, the film festival will be held every two years, and the right to host the event will be transferred from country to country in accordance with the Russian alphabet. The main goal of the festival will be to develop cooperation between the CIS countries in the field of cinematography and promote the achievements of national film industries.

The initiative to create a film festival belongs to Kazakhstan. Representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, took part in the discussion of the project.

The final approval of the regulations on the Commonwealth Film Festival will be considered at the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS. The draft document was prepared by the Working Group on Cinematography on behalf of the Council for Cultural Cooperation of the Commonwealth Countries.