ROSKINO INTRODUCES NINE NEW RUSSIAN FILMS AND DIRECTORS TO INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS AND FESTIVAL SELECTORS AT THE 66TH CANNES

NEW RUSSIAN CINEMA

ROSKINO INTRODUCES NINE NEW RUSSIAN FILMS AND DIRECTORS TO INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS AND FESTIVAL SELECTORS AT THE 66TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

CANNES  -  Friday 17 May 2013.   The Russian Film Pavilion, which is supported by the Russian Federations‘ Ministry of Culture and ROSKINO, presented nine new Russian films and filmmakers for the first time to international distributors, festival selectors and the international media at this year’s Cannes Film Festival today.

Catherine Mtsitouridze of ROSKINO, said,“Last year we supported Sergei Loznitsa’sIn The Fog, the recipient of the FIPRESCI prize and the Grand Prix of the Andrei Tarkovsky International Film Festival Zerkalo, and this year we are excited to have three films in the official selection, TaisiaIgumentseva’sBite the Dust (Special Screening), YuryBykov’sThe Major (Critics’ Week) and EvgenyByalo’sThe Norm of Live (Cinefondation), as well as presenting nine new films from established and emerging filmmakers to international distributors at Cannes. What they share is that they are distinctive films which have been made by extremely talented filmmakers and some of them even in collaboration with companies of the former Soviet Union countries. We are confident they will be attractive to international film festivals as well offering strong commercial prospects for international release.”

The presentation was supervised by Catherine Mtsitouridze and moderated by the Kommersant internationally renowned film critic AndreyPlakhov.

The films presented included:

·       The Invisibles, directed by Sergey Komarov and produced by RenatDavletyarov, Alexander Kotelevsky, Alexander Oleynikov

·       True Blue Story, directed by RenatDavletyarov and produced by RenatDavletyarov, Alexander Kotelevsky

·       Thirst, directed by Dmitry Turin and produced by YurySapronov

·       Dog’s  Paradise, directed by Anna Tchernakova and produced by YurySapronov and AleksanderAdabashyan with Anna Tchernakova.

·       I’m Not Coming Back, directed by ImarRaag and produced by Natalia Drozd, RiinaSildos, AleksiBardy, Oleg Silvanoviych, Sergey Selyanov

·       Kicking Off, directed by Anton Bormatov, producer Sergey Selyanov,

·       The Hope Factory, directed by Natalie Meschaninova and produced by Yelena Stepanischeva, ZaurBolotayev, AleksanderPlotnikov, PetrGudkov, YevgenySemin

·       I Know How to Knit, directed by NadezhdaStepanova and produced by SofikoKiknavelidze

·       Intimate Parts, written and directed byNatasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupov and co-produced by Merkulova, Chupov, BakurBakuradze, Julia Mishkinene

ROSKINO has been highly visible promoting Russian films at all of the major festivals and markets as well as for the international film awards campaigns.  It has also supported the distribution of Russian films and has been encouraging investors and partners to explore opportunities for co-production and filming in Russia.  Last year it ran a major campaign to support Alexander Sokurov’sFaust at the Venice Film Festival which went won the Golden Lion and Boris Khlebnikov’sLong and Happy Life at Berlin. As part of its strategy for Russian films to reach more audiences worldwide, ROSKINO announced a deal with Hulu, one of the world’s biggest VOD distributors at the American Film Market (AFM) in Los Angeles last autumn. 

NEW RUSSIAN FILMS

THIRST

Director: Dmitry Tyurin

Producer: Yuri Sapronov

Screenplay: Dmitry Turin

Cast: Mikhail Grubov, Sergey Lavygin, Roman Kurtsyn, Anna Banshchikova, Alexei Guskov, Galina Bokashevskaya, Elena Morozova, Svetlana Martsinkevich, Oleg Kulikovich, Igor Lyakh, Nikita Ostrikov.

Synopsis:

Kostia’s life is split in two. Before and after Chechnya. And it's not just the war, but the fact that during the last fight he was badly burned in a tank. His friends rescued him, pulled out of the tank, the doctors saved his life. But Kostya has no most of life: just he and his disfigured appearance. Now he lives alone, quenches the thirst with vodka and paints. Kostya is afraid of the world outside the window, as well as the world is afraid of Kostya. The disappearance of his war friend's Serega triggers a strange mechanism by which Kostya comes back to life. Together with friends, he rushes to find a missing friend. He sorts out relationship with his father, who left him as a child. He will realize that he is still needed in this world. His insatiable desire to live will be reflected in his drawings.

Director: Anna Tchernakov

Producers: Yuriy Sapronov

Screenplay: Aleksander Adabashyan

Cast: Anna Karneva, Sasha Kudryavisev, Marina Ignatova, Igor Gardin, Aleksander Adabashyan, Natalie Tkachenko

Synopsis:

Set in Moscow in the summer of of 1953,

an 11-year-old girl meets a boy whose family

have just returned from exile in the Russian Far East and has to leave behind his best friend, a dog called Hector. They decide to build the perfect home for him and persuade the boy’s parents to bring Hector to the city.

Director: Ilmar Raag

Producers: Natalia Drozd, Riina Sildos,

Aleksi Bardy, Oleg Silvanovitch, Sergey Selyanov

Screenplay: YaroslavaPulinovitch,

revisions by Oleg Gaze

Cast: PolinaPushkaruk, VikaLobacheva

Synopsis: Kristina (12) asks Anya (23) to come with her travelling around Russia in search of her grandmother. Anya grew up in orphanage, just like Kristina. When Anya’s life turns upside down, she finds herself on the road with that small girl. There, in the road side cafés or during rainfall under the bridge, Anya and Kristina will learn the meaning of having somebody close to you.

Director: Anton Bormatov

Producer: Sergey Selyanov

Synopsis:

Based on a true story, this film feels like

reality. It tells the story of one of the covert gangs of

football hooligans. They are the most aggressive

and cruel of passionate football fans world, whoever they may be in their daily lives, students or bankers, musicians or engineers, they are all one “firm”. To get into “ the firm” is extremely hard, but if you happen to do so it stays with you for life. And there is no coming back.

THE HOPE FACTORY

Director: Nataliya Meshchaninova

Producers: Yelena Stepanishcheva, Yevgeniy Semin, Aleksander Plotnikov, Zaur Bolotayev, Petr Gudkov, Yevgeny Syomin

Screenplay: Lyubov Mulmenko, Ivan Ugarov, Nataliya Meshchaninova

Cast: Daria Savelyeva, Polia Shanina, Daniil Steklov, Ivan Prill, Ksenia Radchenko, Sergey Ovchinnikov, Dmitry Kubasov

Director: Nadezhda Stepanova

Producer: Sofiko Kiknavelidze

Screenplay: Tatyana Bogatiryova

Cast: AlinaHodzhevanova, Vladimir Svirskiy,

Oleg Dolin, AnastasiyaImamova, Lavrentiy Sorokin,

Irina Gorbacheva,  RozaKhayrullina

Synopsis:

The story of Tanya, who feels that her existence is hopelessly devoid of meaning, is set in St. Petersburg. The city landscape provides the backdrop for Tanya’s ups and downs as she takes drastic action, gets into scrapes and grows up as a result of the trials – both deliberate and accidental – that she faces. Despite our heroine’s inner crisis, this is a cheery and touching film. Through chance encounters and goodbyes, old emotional ties, solitude and the discovery of sources of internal support in specific actions and circumstances, our fragile heroine grows stronger. In terms of genre, the film is a heart-wrenching, incisive confession: Tanya alternates between writing a diary and prose. Tanya ‘knows how to knit’ because she tries, not without success, to weave together the threads of her past and her future – or even her fate.  This is director NadezhdaStepanova’s debut feature-length film.

INTIMATE PARTS

Producers: Bakur Bakuradze, Julia Mishkinene,

Zaur Bolotaev, Alexandr Plotnikov

Screenplay: Natasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupo

Cast: JuriyKolokolnikov, Julia Aug, Olesya

Sudzilovskaya, Nikita Tarasov, KseniyaKatalymova,

Alexey Chupov, Ekaterina Scheglova, TimurBadalbeyly,

DinaraYankovskaya, PavelArtemiev, Anastasia Kholodniakova

Synopsis:

Intimate Parts is an ironic melodrama about middle-class Muscovites. Each of them has a personal secret, hidden from others - the “intimate part”. The main character, a scandalous photographer Ivan, juxtaposes himself to others. He is convinced that people are born to be happy; and happiness is freedom to stay true to one’s self.

The real question is: how safe is it to let your inner self out?

THE RUSSIAN FILM PAVILION

Officially representing Russia for the sixth year at the Cannes Film Festival and Marche du Film, the Russian Pavillion acts as an information hub for our filmmakers and a versatile platform for the promotion of Russian films in the international market. The organisation of the Russian Film Paviklion is undertaken by ROSKINO with participation of the communication group Planeta Inform.

The Russian Film Pavilion is hosting a number of presentations, panel discussions, press conferences and events over the course of the festival which will be led by leading Russian industry professionals including FedorBondarchuk, AleksyUchitel, TaisaIgumentseva, Sergey Selyanov, Leonid Vereshchagin, IlyaBachurin, Igor Ugolnikov, RenatDavletyarov, Peter Buslov, Alexander Adabashyan amongst others.