The InterFoto festival of professional photography has been held in Moscow annually since 1995, and the Novy Manezh exhibition hall has been its traditional venue. It is the brainchild of two American photojournalists, who are its directors as well as its founders: Lucian Perkins – a staff photographer for the Washington Post, a World Press Photo winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and holder of the "Photographer of the Year" title named by the National Association of Independent Press, and Bill Swersey – an independent photojournalist and regular contributor to The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Time, Newsweek and other publications.

The Seventh International Festival of Professional Photography, InterFoto 2001, will be held on Oct. 11-13 in the Novy Manezh Exhibition Hall, Moscow. The theme of this year's festival is "The Natural World and the Nature of Digital Photography."

Endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund, the festival's program is broad and features many events, including slide shows and speeches by famous British photographer Martin Parr and Mexico's largest digital-image-gallery director Pedro Meyer. It will also include a slide program by American photographer Nick Nichols (of National Geographic magazine) featuring elephants and tigers in nature, and "The Naked Eye," an exhibition of pictures by 40 world-famous photographers on global climate changes, among others.

The festival's organizer on the Russian side, Sabina Orudzheva, said that the "Digital Reality" selection of Reuters images covering world events should be particularly interesting.

What: Photography Festival.
Where: Novy Manezh exhibition hall.
3/3 Georgievsky Per.
Metro: Okhotny Ryad; Teatralnaya.
When: Oct. 11-13; 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tel: 928-2622; 241-3466.
Cover: 150 rubles for 3 days.