Actor Mikhail Efremov, convicted of a fatal road accident in 2020, was one of the screenwriters of the short film "The Gospel of Fyodor".

The tape was filmed in correctional colony No. 4 in the city of Alekseevka, Belgorod Region, and received a prize for the best editing at the all-Russian competition "Crime and Punishment" held among convicts serving time in institutions of the penitentiary system.

The event is timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

According to the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Belgorod region, Mikhail Efremov also voiced the picture.

In addition, Mikhail Zelensky was involved in the script.

The film, lasting 7.5 minutes, describes the feelings of a person sentenced to death, and how he looks at his life again.

“Here, in your own skin, you realize the depth of the loneliness of the crowd and understand that alienation is created not by distances, but by the mood of people, and a person becomes yours only when you have one heart with him, and not one roof over your head.

And life, even at 22, full of youth and beauty, has no meaning without love, ”the tape says.

The roles in the picture were played by prisoners, whose articles are in one way or another related to the problems raised in the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The film also stars the daughter of Mikhail Efremov, Vera, and an employee of the colony, Alexei Bondarev.

They played Sonya Marmeladova and Porfiry Petrovich, respectively.

At the same time, Vera Efremova was not present at the shooting - she remotely recorded the necessary fragments and sent them to the institution.

Part of the filming took place during the divine services.

For this, the team received permission from the abbot of the Church of St. George the Victorious, located on the territory of the penal colony.

The authors of the film received gifts for their project.

“The participation of convicts in such events enriches their inner and spiritual world, allows them to join the moral heritage of Russian literature,” says the material published on the website of the Belgorod and Stary Oskol dioceses.

  • © Still from the film "The Gospel of Fyodor"

In September 2020, Mikhail Efremov was found guilty of a traffic violation committed while intoxicated and resulting in the death of a person.

The artist was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The court also ruled to recover 800 thousand rubles from Efremov as compensation to the son of Sergei Zakharov, who died in the accident.

At the same time, the prosecutor insisted on 11 years in prison.

Shortly after the accident that occurred on June 8, 2020, Mikhail Efremov recorded a video message in which he asked for forgiveness from Zakharov's relatives.

The artist said that he "does not understand how to continue to live" and is not going to connect any connections in order to avoid punishment.

He also expressed his readiness to help the family of the deceased.

However, according to the judge, during the trial, Efremov did not admit his guilt.

“Nevertheless, it is confirmed by the evidence examined in the court,” the judge stressed during the announcement of the verdict.

Soon, representatives of the artist filed an appeal.

Lawyer Vladimir Vasiliev asked to appoint Mikhail Efremov a suspended sentence of up to four years.

Later, the artist himself also declared a confession of guilt and remorse and asked to mitigate his sentence.

In October 2020, the Moscow City Court announced its decision to commute the sentence to 7.5 years in a general regime colony. In early November, the artist was sent to a colony in the Belgorod region. Later, the defense of Efremov again tried to mitigate the punishment due to the state of health of the convict. According to lawyers, the actor in the colony began to develop an aggravation of asthma, and an organic personality disorder was also revealed. In addition, the defense recalled the creative achievements of Mikhail Efremov and his charitable activities and emphasized that the artist compensated for the damage to the family of Sergei Zakharov.

Efremov participated in the meeting via video link.

He reiterated his awareness of guilt and remorse and spoke about the alcohol problems that arose after the death of his mother and Galina Volchek, who was his “theatrical mother”.

The artist also criticized the actions of his lawyer Elman Pashayev, who was subsequently removed from the case.

The court did not accept the arguments presented and upheld the verdict.