"The Legend of Sambo"
The release of the biographical drama directed by Andrey Bogatyrev ("Red Ghost") is timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the emergence of such a sport as sambo.
"I am glad that in the film "Legend of Sambo" we managed to keep the main part of the group of the film "Red Ghost". It's great that we have the same creative paths and vision of what we want to show and tell the audience in the cinema," the press service of the Russian World Vision film company quotes the director.
The film reveals the story of two founders of sambo. The action unfolds during the Spartakiad in 1936, where one of the strongest martial arts teams is invited. Among the participants are Viktor Spiridonov, a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, who developed self-defense techniques, and Vasily Oshchepkov, who has been studying judo since childhood. Both masters collide in a decisive duel. But it is not only rivalry that unites the heroes: they strive to create a domestic sport, which will later be called "sambo".
According to the film's producer Tatyana Voronetskaya, the idea to shoot the film appeared about six years ago.
"It was necessary to combine three important names for SAMBO: Vasily Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev – the one who is already more familiar to everyone and the one that has been published in our modern days. Actually, he was a student of Oshchepkov and Viktor Spiridonov. These are the three figures in the center of our story," Voronetskaya said on the air of the Morning in St. Petersburg program.
The film starred Dmitry Pavlenko, Wolfgang Czerny, Alexei Shevchenkov, Anton Vokhmin, Vyacheslav Shikhaleev, Olga Stashkevich and many others.
"Midshipmen, 1787. War"
The sequel to Midshipmen 1787. Peace" with the subtitle "War". The film is set in 1787, 10 years after the Russo-Crimean War. The European powers continue to weave intrigues, opposing the Küçük-Kainarji peace treaty. In the struggle, the Europeans use all sorts of tricks and dirty tricks, and when they learn about the illegitimate son of Empress Catherine II (Kristina Orbakaite), Alexei Bobrinsky, they cannot help but use him for their own purposes. Midshipmen and their grown-up children will again have to save the state and the honor of the ruler.
"Midshipmen, 1787. War is the fifth film in the franchise. Dmitry Kharatyan, Alexander Domogarov, Mikhail Boyarsky and other artists returned to their roles.
As Domogarov told StarHit, filming in the sequel is nostalgia "for my young self."
Filming took place in Sevastopol and its environs. The images of midshipmen were embodied by students of the Black Sea Higher Naval Order of Nakhimov and the Red Star of the Nakhimov School. Svetlana Druzhinina, director and author of all parts of the franchise, and Alexander Karamnov were responsible for directing.
"Daddy on the Run"
The plot of the adventure comedy directed by Alexei Yuzhakov ("Scenarios of Life") focuses on a young man Anatolia, who learns that his wife signed up with him for a pair birth. The closer the "X" day gets, the more scared the hero becomes, because he is sure that his father will turn out to be a bad one.
In a panic, Tolya decides to escape for a while and goes on a shift for work. On the train, the man meets a homeless boy named Kolya, and their meeting changes a lot in the character's life. Thanks to a series of ridiculous events and failures, as well as the trickery of a young acquaintance, Tolya allegedly becomes a kidnapper of children and is put on the wanted list. This is how the incredible journey of the heroes to Kogalym begins, full of dangers and adventures.
The roles were performed by Mikhail Troynik, Irina Gorbacheva, Yaroslav Mogilnikov, Kirill Polukhin, Leonid Gromov, Anna Ukolova and others. Filming took place in the Tyumen region and about 70% of the entire team were local residents.
According to the director, he put his personal experience into the film.
"For me, this film is very personal, practically, therapeutic. And I tried to answer the questions that the characters ask themselves," the Tyumen Line portal quotes Alexei Yuzhakov as saying.
"Niche"
The debut feature film directed by Anton Ermolin tells the story of Vyacheslav Tikhonov, a furniture carrier. For most of his life, Slava has been fascinated by energy and biolocation — he cleans energy fields wherever he can. He is an engineer by training, and he believes that energy can provide answers to all questions of interest.
Following his interests, the hero quits his job and decides to look for a vocation in the psychic business. However, faced with a series of failures, Slava begins to despair and regret the path he has chosen. Everything changes when he manages to summon an insect out of nowhere. After that, a secret society wants to meet with Tikhonov.
One of the producers of the phantasmagoric film was Alexei Uchitel ("To Live", "The Fool"), who called the film "a good festival film" in a conversation with TASS.
"The magical, the absurd in our film is combined with the simple... The term magic realism was used here – this is the protagonist's view of the world," TASS quotes one of the screenwriters of the film, Ramil Khadiulin.
Le Livre des solutions
The director of the Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry, shot a comedy drama, in which he put personal experience that happened to him during the post-production of the film Foam of Days. The Book of Decisions is dedicated to Gondry's beloved aunt, Suzette, who passed away in 2021.
At the center of the plot is the unrecognized genius of directing Mark Becker. He is sure that the producers will ruin his new film masterpiece and remove the hero from work. Unbeknownst to them, he and his dedicated team take the footage and leave for Aunt Mark's country house, where the director plans to continue working on the film. Already in the place of the hero, ideas are visited that plunge him into a strange creative chaos. To get out of it, the director begins to write a guide with practical advice called "The Book of Solutions".
The cast includes Pierre Ninet ("Black Box"), Blanche Garden ("Pretend to Be My Boyfriend"), Camille Rutherford ("The Life of Adele"), Françoise Le Brun ("Julie and Julia: Cooking Happiness by Recipe"), singer Sting and many other artists.
The film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as at screenings in Germany, India, Israel, Great Britain, the USA and other countries.