CANNES, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - The first ever Russian pavilion is due to open at the prestigious Cannes film festival as Russia celebrates one hundred years of film production.

The 61st Cannes film festival opened on Wednesday evening in the French resort town of the same name and will continue until May 25.

A series of events, including a seminar entitled "Russia as a film-making location," and a master class by respected Russian director Sergei Bodrov, as well as presentations of the country's national film studios are scheduled for the Russian pavilion, located in the center of the festival's international village.

"We expect that foreign film distributors interested in showing Russian films will visit the pavilion," said Grigori Gevorkyan, general director of SovExportFilm.

One of the key events on Friday night will be a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Russian film-making, and the 50th anniversary of Mikhail Kalatozov's "The Cranes Are Flying," victory in the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) category at Cannes.

This year 22 films are in contention for the Golden Palm, the festival's main award. There are, however, no Russian films among those vying for the prize.

In 2007, the Russian films "Alexandra" by Alexander Sokurov and "Banishment" by Andrei Zvyagintsev were nominated for the Golden Palm.