Genghis puts Russia on cinema map

BBC NEWS:

Hard-nosed KGB types are reliably cast as stock villains in mainstream fare, but the country's piracy problems are perhaps more troubling to the businessmen of Hollywood.
But Russia's own burgeoning film industry has been gaining confidence for several years, with breakouts like Timur Bekmambetov's action adventure Night Watch achieving a modicum of success outside Europe.

Bekmambetov has already made the leap to Los Angeles, where he directed James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in forthcoming blockbuster Wanted.

Meanwhile, budgets and ambition are on the rise in Moscow.

Director Andrei Borisov has come to the Cannes Film Festival with an ambitious epic based on Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who built a vast 13th Century empire.

By The Will Of Genghis Khan took two years to complete, and recasts the warrior as a hero, rather than the feared killer he is often perceived to be in Western narratives.

But, with production costs reaching $10m (£5m) - nearly five times the average budget for Russian movies - the film will need to find an audience outside its home territory, hence its presence at the world's most prestigious film festival.

Borisov hopes that the film's grand scale and international cast will attract foreign audiences.
"Our actors are from Germany, the US, Mongolia, Russia," he says, admitting "it was really difficult to put them all together".

The cast includes US actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who has appeared in the likes of Heroes and Memoirs of a Geisha, and Orgil Makhaan, who played Genghis Khan in the BBC's critically acclaimed 2005 documentary about the warrior.

Genghis puts Russia on cinema map

BBC NEWS:

Hard-nosed KGB types are reliably cast as stock villains in mainstream fare, but the country's piracy problems are perhaps more troubling to the businessmen of Hollywood.
But Russia's own burgeoning film industry has been gaining confidence for several years, with breakouts like Timur Bekmambetov's action adventure Night Watch achieving a modicum of success outside Europe.

Bekmambetov has already made the leap to Los Angeles, where he directed James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in forthcoming blockbuster Wanted.

Meanwhile, budgets and ambition are on the rise in Moscow.

Director Andrei Borisov has come to the Cannes Film Festival with an ambitious epic based on Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who built a vast 13th Century empire.

By The Will Of Genghis Khan took two years to complete, and recasts the warrior as a hero, rather than the feared killer he is often perceived to be in Western narratives.

But, with production costs reaching $10m (£5m) - nearly five times the average budget for Russian movies - the film will need to find an audience outside its home territory, hence its presence at the world's most prestigious film festival.

Borisov hopes that the film's grand scale and international cast will attract foreign audiences.
"Our actors are from Germany, the US, Mongolia, Russia," he says, admitting "it was really difficult to put them all together".

The cast includes US actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who has appeared in the likes of Heroes and Memoirs of a Geisha, and Orgil Makhaan, who played Genghis Khan in the BBC's critically acclaimed 2005 documentary about the warrior.

Genghis puts Russia on cinema map

BBC NEWS:

Hard-nosed KGB types are reliably cast as stock villains in mainstream fare, but the country's piracy problems are perhaps more troubling to the businessmen of Hollywood.
But Russia's own burgeoning film industry has been gaining confidence for several years, with breakouts like Timur Bekmambetov's action adventure Night Watch achieving a modicum of success outside Europe.

Bekmambetov has already made the leap to Los Angeles, where he directed James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie in forthcoming blockbuster Wanted.

Meanwhile, budgets and ambition are on the rise in Moscow.

Director Andrei Borisov has come to the Cannes Film Festival with an ambitious epic based on Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who built a vast 13th Century empire.

By The Will Of Genghis Khan took two years to complete, and recasts the warrior as a hero, rather than the feared killer he is often perceived to be in Western narratives.

But, with production costs reaching $10m (£5m) - nearly five times the average budget for Russian movies - the film will need to find an audience outside its home territory, hence its presence at the world's most prestigious film festival.

Borisov hopes that the film's grand scale and international cast will attract foreign audiences.
"Our actors are from Germany, the US, Mongolia, Russia," he says, admitting "it was really difficult to put them all together".

The cast includes US actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who has appeared in the likes of Heroes and Memoirs of a Geisha, and Orgil Makhaan, who played Genghis Khan in the BBC's critically acclaimed 2005 documentary about the warrior.

Alexander Zarkhi`s “Anna Karenina” premier in Cannes

Voice of Russia:

“Anna Karenina”, a film produced in 1967 by a prominent Russian director Alexander Zarkhi, will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival today. Forty years ago the Cannes waited to see this film with Tatiana Samoilova as Anna, but due to the preliminary closure of the festival amid students protests in France the audience won`t see it. Now the time to restore the justice has come."

Where Will Be Twilight Watch Shot?

Russia-InfoCentre:

Well-known film director Timur Bekmambetov is getting ready to film the third Watch, another sequel of the blockbuster Night Watch.

The film to be titled Twilight Watch or Dusk Watch is already in preproduction, Fox International Productions reports.

It remains unknown yet, where the story will be set, what the plotline will be and whether Morgan Freeman will play the head of American Watch in the would-be blockbuster. It was informed earlier that the film might probably feature Brad Pitt.

In addition to that, the author of the Watches Sergei Lukyanenko pointed out that the film may as well be shot in Russia.

Alexei Uchitel

Alexei Uchitel is one of the most notable contemporary Russian film directors. A gifted possessor of numerous cinema awards, he continues doing wonders on screen, which unmistakably appeal to lovers of high-grade drama films.

Alexei Uchitel was born on August 30, 1951 in Leninrgad (St.-Petersburg). In 1975 he graduated from VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinematography). Later he works at the Leningrad Studio of Documentary Films and at Lenfilm Studio. In 1990 he founded his own studio 'Rock'. He is the laureate of numerous international cinema festivals and Russia's Honored Art Worker. His films develop the tradition of Russian documentary cinema, one of the creators of which was his father Yefim Uchitel, outstanding film director and People's Artist of the USSR (His documentary 'Leningrad in Struggle' (1942) is known all over the world).

The documentaries by Alexei Uchitel transcend the limits of conventional perception of nonfiction cinema. He has always been most interested in creation of a vivid composition of images rather than in mere reflection of facts. In his famous film 'Rock' he does not simply film chapters on musicians but tells stories highlighting their personalities. The focus of attention is on the intimate inner world, the 'kitchen' realm where music and lyrics take birth. As a result there appears an original and fascinating film, recreating the atmosphere of the creativity of those people and other characters of the Perestroika epoch. These were the first experiments in using poetic metaphors in documentaries instead of matter-of-fact narration. This approach obviously predetermined Uchitel's transition to feature films.

He never fails to elaborate the image composition, find surprising montage solutions and experiment with sound. The veracity of documentary and the fancy of fiction interweave in his works generating inimitable atmosphere.

He made his debut in full-length feature cinema in 1995 with 'Mania Zhizeli' (Giselle's Mania) telling the story of vertiginous career and life drama of the great Russian ballerina of the 20th century Olga Spesivtseva, nicknamed 'Red Giselle' by her contemporaries. ...

Uchitel's works as film-director: 2005 - 'Kosmos Kak Predchuvstvie', aka Dreaming of Space (feature film) 2003 - Progulka, aka The Stroll (feature film) 2000 - Dnevnik Ego Zheny, aka His Wife's Diary (documentary feature film) 1997 - 'Elite' (documentary feature film) 1996 - 'Mania Zhizeli', aka Giselle's Mania (feature film) 1993 - 'Butterfly' (documentary feature film)Works by Uchitel at the Leningrad Studio of Documentary Films: 'Obvodny Kanal'(documentary feature film) 1988 - 'Rock' (documentary feature film) 1986 - Planet Natasha (documentary) 1983 - Aktsiya (documentary) 1983 - The Earth is Entrusted to You (documentary feature film) 1982 - "Who is for? (Three episodes on a contemporary theme) (documentary) 1980 - How many faces does the disco have? (documentary feature film) 1978 - Starting Up. Portrait of an Event. (documentary) ... more>>

Film festival dedicated to the 190th birthday of Russian writer Turgenev opens in Oryol

Voice of Russia:

And nine feature films and 11 documentaries will be shown as part of a film festival dedicated to the 190th birthday of the great 19th century Russian writer Ivan Turgenev which is opening today in Oryol, 360 kilometers southwest of Moscow.

Remastered Andrei Rublev to Be Screened in Ivanovo

Russia Info Centre:

Demonstration of the remastered film Andrei Rublev will take place at the 3rd Andrei Tarkovsky International Film Festival Zerkalo (Mirror) to open in Ivanovo on May 26.

The festival’s General Producer, Honoured Artist of RF Alexei Gornizov informed that Andrei Rublev with remastered sound and color separation will be presented by the film’s cameraman Vadim Yusov and VGIK (All-Russian State Institute of Cinema) students who performed digital restoration of the famous masterpiece.

The festival will run till June 1.

Russian film director Alexander Sokurov and opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya win a UN prize

Voice of Russia:

The Russian film director Alexander Sokurov and the opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya have won a United Nations prize for a movie about the Russian counter-terror operation in the North Caucasus. Galina plays the grandma of a young Russian officer on deployment to Chechnya. She beat two Western movie stars for the prize. They are Vanessa Redgrave and Angelina Jolie."

Dmitry Karamazov played by Mikhail Ulyanov

From: noiseemitter



Karamazov Brothers after Dostoevsky's novel.

Lionella Pyryeva as Grushenka and renowned Russian actor, Mikhail Ulyanov. In the end Karamazov is arrested as suspect of the murder of his father.
Directed by Ivan Pyryev, who died during the shooting process.
(p) Mosfilm 1968

In the fragment the romance "Расставаясь, она говорила" (At parting She Said) is performed by Valentina Ponomareva, outstanding Russian and Gypsy romance singer. The music is by P. Bulakhov, the lyrics by N. Jodeyko.

Russia's early film revival

The Washington Times:

The most serendipitous import of 1997 was a German-made compilation movie titled 'East Side Story,' which recalled the fitful but sometimes memorable history of film musicals made under communist regimes.

The most auspicious and/or mind-boggling examples originated in the Soviet Union and East Germany between the mid-1930s and early 1960s.

A curiously wistful and edifying consequence of the decline of communism in Eastern Europe, "East Side Story" made a persuasive case for the incongruous entertainment value of these song-and-dance period pieces. I assumed it would be only a matter of time before some repertory management would program several conspicuous titles in a revival series offering fresh looks at the entire movies.

That follow-through never happened in Washington. Something like it can be enjoyed belatedly during a retrospective at the National Gallery of Art called "Envisioning Russia: Mosfilm Studio," which begins next weekend and continues every weekend through June.

A pared-down version of a series showcased early this year by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, "Mosfilm" revives 10 movies made under the auspices of the Soviet Union's pre-eminent movie studio (still a major source of Russian feature and television production today) between 1925 and 1959.
It could be argued that the most prestigious titles are Sergei Eisenstein's legendary rabble-rouser "Battleship Potemkin" — which brought Mosfilm's antecedent, Goskino, international renown in 1926 — and Mikhail Kalatozov's "The Cranes Are Flying," which won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958.

I believe the best justification for this backward glance is that three of the 10 selections are Soviet musicals fondly recalled in "East Side Story": Grigori Aleksandrov's "Jolly Fellows" of 1934, Ivan Pyryev's "Tractor Drivers" of 1939 and Eldar Ryazanov's "Carnival Night" of 1956.

Better late than never, here's a chance to see them in full, in theatrical prints — and there's no admission charge at National Gallery film programs.

Russian pavilion opens for first time at Cannes festival

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.

Sergey Bodrov Sr. Establishes his Own Film Company

Russia-InfoCentre:

The well-known scriptwriter and film director Sergey Bodrov senior has founded the company Bodrov Film Production.

Five projects are already under way, Mongol-2 called the major of them by Sergey Bodrov. This picture with the budget of 35million rubles is expected to be completed in 2009.

Almost the same amount will be invested in production of another historical epos Sultan Baibars. The script of Sultan is still in process, and by the end of 2008 the film director of the project is to be confirmed.

Sergey Bodrov himself is presently writing a scenario for the film Hope Despite Anything about poet Osip Mandelstam.

In 2008 Mongol Bodrov Sr. was nominated for Oscar in the Foreign Language Film nomination, whereas in Russia this work took six Nika Awards, including those for the best film and the best direction.

Cannes: Russia celebrates 100 years of film production

Hollywood Reporter:

Russia's anniversary of 100 years of film production couldn't have come at a better time. With local releases taking in almost $150 million last year, representing a 27.3% jump over 2006, there is plenty to celebrate as Russian film hits the century mark.

Driving this growth is Russia's first generation of private producers, who are now in their mid-40s. Indeed, the most financially successful Russian films are largely producer-initiated projects similar to those of old Hollywood.

Renat Davletyarov, the 46-year-old CEO of Moscow-based production company Interfest, whose body swapping comedy "Lovey Dovey" took in more than $11 million at the local boxoffice, says Russian cinema was always producer-driven, it's just that for many years the producer was the government.

"And they weren't too bad at it," he adds, citing how auteurs like Andrei Tarkovsky were allowed epic-scale budgets while more populist directors such as Eldar Ryazanov were able to outdo Spielberg with proportionally astronomic admissions numbers to their films.

But while there is much to celebrate at the moment, a number of lingering challenges beg the question: With all of the market development over the past decade, has it become easier to be a Russian movie producer. "It's probably easier (since) the government no longer messes with film production," says Konstantin Ernst, CEO of Channel One Russia, which produced one of 2007's biggest hits , "Irony of Fate 2." Veteran producer Sergei Selyanov, one of the vps of the Russian Producers' Guild, says that while there may indeed be more filmmaker control these days, it all depends on perspective.

Costumes of Film Stars of the 1930-40s Exhibited in Moscow

Russia-InfoCentre:

The exposition Forefeeling of Fashion. Awakening of Cinema open from today on presents unique exhibits from the personal collection of the world-known fashion historian and theatre artist Alexander Vasiliev.

The visitors will see original costumes of film stars of black-and-white cinema of the 1930-40s. Altogether there are more than ten thousand historical costumes displayed at the exhibition that is held in the framework of the festival Cherry Orchid.

Alexander Vasiliev’s collection is one of the most impressive and complete costume collections in the world and has been already displayed in many countries, including Australia, Chili, Turkey, Belgium, Great Britain and France.