Rinal Mukhametov’s hero Anton is a street dance champion, an idol of lovers of street dance and the leader of one of the strongest dance teams in St. Petersburg. But Anton’s dance career collapses overnight when he becomes a victim of an accident and is deaf. Further, worse: a young man is declared an unbearable price tag for an operation, his stepfather accuses him of dependency, and his beloved girl prefers an opponent.

Tired of upholding the thresholds of St. Petersburg clinics, and almost resigned to the plight, Anton begins to attend classes with a sound teacher from a school for hearing-impaired children. Those, having seen the idol, are asked to teach them how to dance.

Anton studies with schoolchildren, learns to “see the music” in his spare time, and ultimately decides to engage the children in staging his own show and challenge the best dance groups in the country.

The inclusive drama about street dance, produced by Alexei Uchitel, was shot by a graduate of his workshop, Anar Abbasov. The author of "Battle" himself was fond of dancing for several years and even put numbers for the "Star Factory".

In 2009, Abbasov released the short film "Beethoven" about hearing-impaired people who dance and want to perform in a competition among those who hear.

“I decided to make a documentary about them. We with this tape took the main prize of documentary films at VGIK. But after graduating from VGIK, the idea of ​​making a feature film did not leave me. I even thought before the institute that in Russia there is no normal film about dancing. From that moment, I had the idea that it would be good to make a movie about our Russian dancers, who are, as it were, in the shade. And we have very cool dancers, titled world champions. We have high-level street dances, ”said Abbasov in an interview with RT.

  • Frame from the movie "Battle"
  • © kinopoisk.ru

The director worked for several years on a script for a feature film about a hearing impaired dancer. During the breaks, he managed to shoot another short film - "Gurban" - and made his full debut with the film "Amun", also produced by Teacher.

“I wrote it for four years (script. - RT ), periodically adjusting the plan itself. Then, when I understood how the script should be built, I wrote a complete draft, but they also suffered from this draft, corrected until the shooting was over, ”the director noted.

At first, Abbasov was looking for the leading actor among the dancers. Casting for the role of Anton in Moscow and St. Petersburg lasted four months. As a result, the creators of the “Battle” stopped at Mukhametov - the fact that in his youth the actor was fond of break dance also played a role. Mukhametov performed some of the numbers without an understudy.

“What exactly I wanted to see in the character was not shown by the dancers. Rinal is a talented artist. All the pros came together in one person, ”added Abbasov.

Mukhametov studied at the circus variety department of the Kazan Theater School. More than once in an interview, he said that he attached great importance to the language and plasticity of the body.

According to Abbasov, he was faced with the task of making an honest film about Russian dancers and dance culture. Therefore, professional choreographer Yevgeny Baryshev was invited to put on numbers for the film (in the film he will appear as a judge). Among the dance styles shown in the “Battle” are papping (a technique of sharp contraction and muscle relaxation that creates the effect of trembling the body), waxing (it is characterized by waved hands) and locking (combines fast movements and fading in various positions for a short time) .

However, for the endless dance in the "Battle" can be traced to acute social issues. Talking about people with disabilities in the format of an entertaining movie is not easy - but Abbasov tried to cope with this task.

Hearing impaired children were played by actors who really had health restrictions, and the rest of the participants in the filming process mastered sign language.

“For me it was important because I understood that children do not know how to play - they are natural,” the director explained.