The International Film Festival of Directorial Debuts "Spirit of Fire" was conceived in 2002 by the renowned Russian director Sergey Solovyov. For almost twenty years, he was the festival's permanent president. Today, in memory of Sergey Aleksandrovich, his name is given to the main award in the Russian competition program.
Sergey Solovyov's idea was supported by the then-governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, Alexander Filipenko. Soon, a government resolution of the KMAO was adopted to hold the first festival from January 26 to February 2, 2003. The presidential council, in addition to Sergey Solovyov, included renowned actor Alexander Abdulov and screenwriter Maria Zvereva. Within a year, the initiative group visited many world festivals and formulated the idea of the "Spirit of Fire": to organize not only an annual showcase of the most significant debut works by Russian directors, but also to include these films in the context of world debut cinema, to develop the best traditions of Russian cinema.
The main showcase of the festival for many years remained the international competition of debut films, in which films from many countries participated over these years. According to the regulations, out of 10–12 competition films, no more than two may be in Russian. The competition is judged by an international jury consisting of authoritative directors, actors, and representatives of other film professions—according to their decision, several festival awards are presented, supported by monetary prizes. The Russian debuts program, which always attracted special viewer attention, now becomes equal in significance to the competition nomination, which has its own jury and set of prizes.
Every year at the "Spirit of Fire," in various halls of Khanty-Mansiysk and throughout the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, there are numerous thematic screenings, out-of-competition programs, and retrospectives. They allow viewers and festival participants to systematically familiarize themselves with masterpieces of world cinema—thus, "festivals within a festival" have already taken place, dedicated to Mikhail Kalatozov, Andrei Tarkovsky… The annual children's and youth cinema club has grown over these years into a separate competition program – "Your Cinema," and the professional club gave rise to the "Spirit of Fire" Academy. Film screenings are always accompanied by a unique cultural program, including performances by musicians, photography and art exhibitions.
Every single festival screening is held with full houses. Khanty-Mansiysk is a student city, and youth are the festival's main viewers and judges. The figures shown by film distribution organizations at the end of each festival are impressive: already at the first "Spirit of Fire," film programs alone in just two halls were attended by more than 50 thousand people. Subsequently, the number of festival venues and audiences only grew.
At the end of 2021, we all suffered a great loss – Sergey Solovyov, the permanent president and founder of the festival, passed away. In his memory, we are making the "Spirit of Fire" even stronger.