EXCLUSIVE: Venice Days deputy director Sylvain Auzou will be the artistic director of the sixth International Independent Film Festival Zavtra/2morrow, which takes place in Moscow between 24- 30 September 2012.

Auzou becomes the first foreign artistic director of the festival, and one of the first ever at a Russian festival.

The increasingly popular festival has given national premieres to titles including Laurent Cantet’s The Class, Xavier Dolan’s I killed My Mother, Kim Ki Duk’s Arirang and Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte.

It also hosts the Warsaw Film Festival CentEast offshoot Project for Tomorrow, which connects professionals with the latest eastern European and Russian independent films.

Twilight Portrait team Olga Dihovichnaya and Angelina Nikanova head the festival, founded by director Ivan Dykhovichny, and backed by the Ivan Dihovichny Fund, Fond Kino and Audi Russia.

Sylvain Auzou: “I think there is a big demand in Russia for worldwide cinema. First I need to go to Moscow to see how the land lies and get a sense of the local audience but I’d like to create a programme that is a little more art-centred.”