Michael Winterbottom’s drama centres on the romance between a British police officer and a socialist Zionist writer but puts history-telling over emotion
Working with co-writers Laurence Coriat and Paul Viragh, Michael Winterbottom hits a clear, confident stride with a robustly well made, if emotionally flavourless historical drama set during the British mandate in what was then Palestine. It is a film that speaks in a complex way to the current Gaza debate, contending that Zionism has anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism in its 20th-century manifestation: a rage against the British masters. But the implication is that it learned habits of ruthlessness from these very people.
The film is based on the true story of Shoshana Borochov, a socialist Zionist writer who came with her Ukrainian family to Tel Aviv as a child in the 1920s and grew up to have a long-term romantic relationship with a British police officer called Thomas Wilkin,...
Working with co-writers Laurence Coriat and Paul Viragh, Michael Winterbottom hits a clear, confident stride with a robustly well made, if emotionally flavourless historical drama set during the British mandate in what was then Palestine. It is a film that speaks in a complex way to the current Gaza debate, contending that Zionism has anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism in its 20th-century manifestation: a rage against the British masters. But the implication is that it learned habits of ruthlessness from these very people.
The film is based on the true story of Shoshana Borochov, a socialist Zionist writer who came with her Ukrainian family to Tel Aviv as a child in the 1920s and grew up to have a long-term romantic relationship with a British police officer called Thomas Wilkin,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment picked up U.S. distribution rights to the Tel Aviv-set political thriller Shoshana from BAFTA-winning filmmaker Michael Winterbottom.
The pic, which debuted at TIFF before playing the London Film Festival, was written by Laurence Coriat, Paul Viragh, and Winterbottom. Cast includes Irina Starshenbaum (Leto), Douglas Booth (That Dirty Black Bag), and Harry Melling (The Pale Blue Eye). Greenwich will release the film next year.
Inspired by real events, Shoshana is a political thriller set in 1930s Tel Aviv. Thomas Wilkin, who works in the anti-terrorist squad of the British Palestine Police Force, is in love with Shoshana Borochov. Through their relationship the film explores the way extremism and violence drive a wedge between people, forcing them to choose sides.
Shoshana is an Italian-uk coproduction between Vision Distribution, Revolution Films, and Bartlebyfilm. Producers on the film include Melissa Parmenter, Massimo Di Rocco, Josh Hyams,...
The pic, which debuted at TIFF before playing the London Film Festival, was written by Laurence Coriat, Paul Viragh, and Winterbottom. Cast includes Irina Starshenbaum (Leto), Douglas Booth (That Dirty Black Bag), and Harry Melling (The Pale Blue Eye). Greenwich will release the film next year.
Inspired by real events, Shoshana is a political thriller set in 1930s Tel Aviv. Thomas Wilkin, who works in the anti-terrorist squad of the British Palestine Police Force, is in love with Shoshana Borochov. Through their relationship the film explores the way extremism and violence drive a wedge between people, forcing them to choose sides.
Shoshana is an Italian-uk coproduction between Vision Distribution, Revolution Films, and Bartlebyfilm. Producers on the film include Melissa Parmenter, Massimo Di Rocco, Josh Hyams,...
- 12/14/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Soberly relevant in light of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, filmmaker Michael Winterbottom takes us back to the pre-1948 establishment of the state of Israel and early rise of Zionist activism, as told through a love story between a Jew and a Brit. Shoshana is an ambitious project as it weaves action sequences with socio-political ideas of the era with some degree of success – greatly helped by its protagonists’ professions that allow greater insight into the region’s developing unrest.
Set in 1930s’ cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum) casually meets Englishman Thomas Wilkins (Douglas Booth) at a party, who is assigned to the Palestinian police force, and they begin an affair. Their union is doomed from the beginning as work and social alliances threaten journalist Shoshana’s wellbeing, while Wilkins investigates escalating violence against Arabs from various Zionist militant factions and puts himself in danger’s path.
At the same...
Set in 1930s’ cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum) casually meets Englishman Thomas Wilkins (Douglas Booth) at a party, who is assigned to the Palestinian police force, and they begin an affair. Their union is doomed from the beginning as work and social alliances threaten journalist Shoshana’s wellbeing, while Wilkins investigates escalating violence against Arabs from various Zionist militant factions and puts himself in danger’s path.
At the same...
- 11/1/2023
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
’Shoshana’ world premiered at Toronto, ahead of screenings at Dinard film festival and BFI London Film Festival.
Michael Winterbottom is one of the UK’s more prolific independent filmmakers, with over 30 features to his name across a 35-year career – but his latest, Shoshana, has been rather a slow burn.
The drama, based on real people and events, premiered in Toronto, before playing in French festival of UK and Irish film Dinard, and will have its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival on October 7.
It is set in 1930s Tel Aviv, as violence erupt in the British Mandate for Palestine,...
Michael Winterbottom is one of the UK’s more prolific independent filmmakers, with over 30 features to his name across a 35-year career – but his latest, Shoshana, has been rather a slow burn.
The drama, based on real people and events, premiered in Toronto, before playing in French festival of UK and Irish film Dinard, and will have its UK premiere at BFI London Film Festival on October 7.
It is set in 1930s Tel Aviv, as violence erupt in the British Mandate for Palestine,...
- 10/4/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
By Abe Friedtanzer
Courtesy of TIFF
Those who are confused by the current situation in the Middle East have a long, even more complicated history to consider that explains some of the roots of today’s issues. Shoshana takes place in 1938, when the British control Mandatory Palestine and the Nazis are beginning to conquer Europe. Two separate Jewish underground armies exist, the Haganah and the Irgun, each fighting for their vision of the future Israel, and tolerated and vilified to different degrees by the British forces trying to keep the peace. At the center is Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum), a Jewish woman romantically involved with English police officer Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth)…...
Courtesy of TIFF
Those who are confused by the current situation in the Middle East have a long, even more complicated history to consider that explains some of the roots of today’s issues. Shoshana takes place in 1938, when the British control Mandatory Palestine and the Nazis are beginning to conquer Europe. Two separate Jewish underground armies exist, the Haganah and the Irgun, each fighting for their vision of the future Israel, and tolerated and vilified to different degrees by the British forces trying to keep the peace. At the center is Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum), a Jewish woman romantically involved with English police officer Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth)…...
- 9/22/2023
- by Abe Friedtanzer
- FilmExperience
Britain’s official post-wwi administration of Palestine lasted from 1920-48 and is probably the UK colonial enterprise least addressed by its fiction filmmakers. But now prolific writer-director Michael Winterbottom uses that complicated era as a backdrop to the compelling historical romance “Shoshana.” A passion project 15 years in the making and based on real people and events, the film employs the ill-fated, cross-cultural relationship between a ranking member of the British Palestine Police Force and a young Jewish woman to explore the way extremism and violence push people apart, forcing them to choose sides.
It’s worth noting upfront that while the British rulers had to deal with both Palestine’s Arab and Jewish citizens, each of whom want an independent country, the narrative here hews firmly to a British and Jewish p.o.v., with Arabs barely characterized except as victims and troublemakers. By the 1930s, Palestine is a cauldron...
It’s worth noting upfront that while the British rulers had to deal with both Palestine’s Arab and Jewish citizens, each of whom want an independent country, the narrative here hews firmly to a British and Jewish p.o.v., with Arabs barely characterized except as victims and troublemakers. By the 1930s, Palestine is a cauldron...
- 9/17/2023
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
The stars of the 2023 Toronto Film Festival turned out for the Variety and Chanel Female Filmmakers Dinner hosted at the Soho House. Creators, actors, writers and artists gathered to celebrate the creators of the fest including director of “Quiz Lady” Jessica Yu, documentarian Jen Markowitz of “Summer Qamp,” Lulu Wang of “Expats and many more.
Camila Morrone, Colman Domingo (who has two films at the fest), Willam Dafoe, Douglas Booth, Irina Starshenbaum, Patricia Arquette, Barry Jenkins and Finn Wolfhard were just a few of the attendees.
Camila Morrone, Colman Domingo (who has two films at the fest), Willam Dafoe, Douglas Booth, Irina Starshenbaum, Patricia Arquette, Barry Jenkins and Finn Wolfhard were just a few of the attendees.
- 9/10/2023
- by Meredith Woerner
- Variety Film + TV
Scripted films about political revolutions often have the luxury of marinating in esoteric debates about philosophies and forms of government that are completely detached from reality. If a filmmaker’s mission is to advance one ideology over another, it’s easy to abandon real-world nuance and cast their preferred parties as underdogs in a Hollywood-style good vs. evil saga. Michael Winterbottom’s “Shoshana” takes a different approach, immediately demonstrating its understanding that even the most intellectually committed activists have to consider dubious alliances to avoid total annihilation.
The British director’s new political thriller is set in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, during Britain’s occupation of Palestine that saw the military try to find a peaceful compromise between Palestinian natives and Zionists trying to establish Israel on their faith’s holiest grounds. Locals are forced to choose between supporting an unwanted occupation from an imperialist nation or violent nationalist...
The British director’s new political thriller is set in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, during Britain’s occupation of Palestine that saw the military try to find a peaceful compromise between Palestinian natives and Zionists trying to establish Israel on their faith’s holiest grounds. Locals are forced to choose between supporting an unwanted occupation from an imperialist nation or violent nationalist...
- 9/8/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The U.K. has a robust presence at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, and several of the films screening there find contemporary resonance while exploring historical subjects.
In Thea Sharrock’s 1920s-set “Wicked Little Letters,” Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play neighbors who get on each other’s nerves in a small English town where residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters. Sharrock sees parallels in the film’s theme with today’s social media trolling replacing poison-pen letters.
“The parallels are both so immediate and so obvious, but they’re very subtly made in the writing and therefore in the film,” Sharrock says. “You wonder how far we’ve come in 100 years. Technology-wise, it’s very obvious how far we’ve come, but as human beings in terms of humanity, actually, how much is exactly the same? And how much have we developed in a good way? And...
In Thea Sharrock’s 1920s-set “Wicked Little Letters,” Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play neighbors who get on each other’s nerves in a small English town where residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters. Sharrock sees parallels in the film’s theme with today’s social media trolling replacing poison-pen letters.
“The parallels are both so immediate and so obvious, but they’re very subtly made in the writing and therefore in the film,” Sharrock says. “You wonder how far we’ve come in 100 years. Technology-wise, it’s very obvious how far we’ve come, but as human beings in terms of humanity, actually, how much is exactly the same? And how much have we developed in a good way? And...
- 9/8/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Michael Winterbottom’s production company Revolution Films is opening an Italian outpost, Variety can exclusively confirm.
The production outfit, known for films and TV series including the Boris Johnson-inspired “This England” and the upcoming TIFF contender “Shoshana,” is in the process of setting up an office in the country, say sources with knowledge of the expansion. Longtime Revolution exec Melissa Parmenter will be running the new branch.
Revolution has increasingly been working in Italy in recent years and a source tells Variety the company is looking to make more films there. “Shoshana” (which was previously titled “Promised Land”) is set in Israel but was entirely shot in Italy. The film, which will premiere at TIFF on Friday, is set during the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1930s, when the daughter of an Israeli revolutionary (Irina Starshenbaum) falls in love with a British soldier (played by Douglas Booth).
“Shoshana...
The production outfit, known for films and TV series including the Boris Johnson-inspired “This England” and the upcoming TIFF contender “Shoshana,” is in the process of setting up an office in the country, say sources with knowledge of the expansion. Longtime Revolution exec Melissa Parmenter will be running the new branch.
Revolution has increasingly been working in Italy in recent years and a source tells Variety the company is looking to make more films there. “Shoshana” (which was previously titled “Promised Land”) is set in Israel but was entirely shot in Italy. The film, which will premiere at TIFF on Friday, is set during the British Mandate of Palestine in the 1930s, when the daughter of an Israeli revolutionary (Irina Starshenbaum) falls in love with a British soldier (played by Douglas Booth).
“Shoshana...
- 9/5/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Four years after his last full-length feature — the black comedy Greed, starring Steve Coogan as a venal business tycoon — Michael Winterbottom is back, this time with a political drama set in Tel Aviv, based on real-life people and events that occurred during the 1930s, in the run-up to the foundation of Israel in 1948.
Making its world premiere next week at the Toronto International Film Festival, it stars newcomer Irina Starshenbaum as the title character, a newspaper journalist with strong leftist leanings and ties to underground Jewish groups. Against the odds, Shoshana is romantically involved with Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth), whose job as an assistant superintendent with the British Palestine Police puts him in conflict with outlawed organizations such as Irgun and Lehi.
The couple’s unlikely relationship is called into question by the arrival of Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling), who comes to head up the anti-terrorist squad and, specifically,...
Making its world premiere next week at the Toronto International Film Festival, it stars newcomer Irina Starshenbaum as the title character, a newspaper journalist with strong leftist leanings and ties to underground Jewish groups. Against the odds, Shoshana is romantically involved with Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth), whose job as an assistant superintendent with the British Palestine Police puts him in conflict with outlawed organizations such as Irgun and Lehi.
The couple’s unlikely relationship is called into question by the arrival of Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling), who comes to head up the anti-terrorist squad and, specifically,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
“Our assumption is that everyone was trying to do their best.”
UK filmmaker Michael Winterbottom says his upcoming Sky series This England has not been revised to include the ‘partygate’ revelations, that emerged about Boris Johnson after the series had shot.
Currently in post-production ahead of a launch later in 2022, This England depicts the first wave of the Covid-19 virus in England in spring 2019, including the response of now outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson and his government.
“We started writing it in the summer of 2020; the end of the first wave at the end of May was going to be our end point,...
UK filmmaker Michael Winterbottom says his upcoming Sky series This England has not been revised to include the ‘partygate’ revelations, that emerged about Boris Johnson after the series had shot.
Currently in post-production ahead of a launch later in 2022, This England depicts the first wave of the Covid-19 virus in England in spring 2019, including the response of now outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson and his government.
“We started writing it in the summer of 2020; the end of the first wave at the end of May was going to be our end point,...
- 8/17/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
British director Michael Winterbottom will start shooting his long-gestating “Promised Land,” a thriller set during the leadup to the 1948 partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel, this fall in Italy.
U.K. actors Douglas Booth and Harry Melling (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) and Russia’s Irina Starshenbaum, who was in Cannes in 2018 with Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Leto,” are attached as the pic’s main cast.
Italy’s Vision Distribution, which is headed by veteran sales agent Catia Rossi, is launching pre-sales on “Promised Land” in Cannes.
Based on real events, “Promised Land” is a political thriller that unfolds during the British Mandate in 1930s Tel Aviv. It follows two Brit police officers Thomas Wilkin (Booth) and Geoffrey Morton (Melling) in their hunt for charismatic poet and Zionist freedom fighter Avraham Stern, who was plotting to evict British authorities.
Wilkin is torn between his duty...
U.K. actors Douglas Booth and Harry Melling (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) and Russia’s Irina Starshenbaum, who was in Cannes in 2018 with Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Leto,” are attached as the pic’s main cast.
Italy’s Vision Distribution, which is headed by veteran sales agent Catia Rossi, is launching pre-sales on “Promised Land” in Cannes.
Based on real events, “Promised Land” is a political thriller that unfolds during the British Mandate in 1930s Tel Aviv. It follows two Brit police officers Thomas Wilkin (Booth) and Geoffrey Morton (Melling) in their hunt for charismatic poet and Zionist freedom fighter Avraham Stern, who was plotting to evict British authorities.
Wilkin is torn between his duty...
- 5/17/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Unspooling from June 8-15, the Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition will feature a slew of drama projects worth looking out for, from psychological thrillers to biopics and new takes on modern relationships.
“Insomnia” (1-2-3 Production) 2022
Producers: Valeriy Fedorovich, Evgeniy Nikishov
Synopsis: Yuri is a successful psychiatrist and hypnotist, a committed non-believer, capable of rationalizing anything except for his own nightmares: featuring his late ex-wife, some red-haired beauty and a strange symbol that looks like an infinity sign. When a mother of a boy, also tormented by nightmares, turns to Yuri for help, he tries to untangle this case. In the process of treatment Yuri comes across evidence of reincarnation, while the boy himself gives him clues to the mystery of his own nightmares.
Valeriy Fedorovich: “‘Insomnia’ is a mystical drama with some thriller elements and unconventional Russian A-list duet of Gosha Kutsenko and Irina Starshenbaum, known internationally for their...
“Insomnia” (1-2-3 Production) 2022
Producers: Valeriy Fedorovich, Evgeniy Nikishov
Synopsis: Yuri is a successful psychiatrist and hypnotist, a committed non-believer, capable of rationalizing anything except for his own nightmares: featuring his late ex-wife, some red-haired beauty and a strange symbol that looks like an infinity sign. When a mother of a boy, also tormented by nightmares, turns to Yuri for help, he tries to untangle this case. In the process of treatment Yuri comes across evidence of reincarnation, while the boy himself gives him clues to the mystery of his own nightmares.
Valeriy Fedorovich: “‘Insomnia’ is a mystical drama with some thriller elements and unconventional Russian A-list duet of Gosha Kutsenko and Irina Starshenbaum, known internationally for their...
- 6/7/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
With over 250 screen adaptations featuring Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the most famous characters to have graced a screen. But few of those adaptations have come from non-English speaking countries.
In the new Russian TV series, “Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles,” which transfers Sherlock Holmes to Saint Petersburg in 1889 to hunt down notorious killer Jack the Ripper, international audiences will now get a chance to discover the revered detective through a completely new lens.
Zdf Enterprises has just secured global distribution rights for the original series, produced by the Russian streaming service Start and production company Sreda.
The character of Sherlock Holmes, which British author Doyle first brought to life in 1887 in the novel “A Study of Scarlet,” has gone on to have a life of his own since that time, adapted not only in film and TV, but also gaining huge success on stage,...
In the new Russian TV series, “Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles,” which transfers Sherlock Holmes to Saint Petersburg in 1889 to hunt down notorious killer Jack the Ripper, international audiences will now get a chance to discover the revered detective through a completely new lens.
Zdf Enterprises has just secured global distribution rights for the original series, produced by the Russian streaming service Start and production company Sreda.
The character of Sherlock Holmes, which British author Doyle first brought to life in 1887 in the novel “A Study of Scarlet,” has gone on to have a life of his own since that time, adapted not only in film and TV, but also gaining huge success on stage,...
- 5/19/2021
- by Alexander Durie
- Variety Film + TV
Slate is led by Roman Vasyanov’s ‘The Dorm’, which has secured a world sales agent.
Russian production outfit MetraFilms is showcasing multiple projects at the EFM, led by Roman Vasyanov’s The Dorm, on which New Europe Film Sales has boarded world sales.
The Dorm marks the directorial debut of Vasyanov, who is best known as David Ayer’s cinematographer on End Of Watch, Fury, Suicide Squad and Bright.
Vasyanov’s debut, which he also co-wrote, is an adaptation of Alexei Ivanov’s novel Dorm To Blood. Set in the Soviet Union of 1984, it follows five students whose friendship...
Russian production outfit MetraFilms is showcasing multiple projects at the EFM, led by Roman Vasyanov’s The Dorm, on which New Europe Film Sales has boarded world sales.
The Dorm marks the directorial debut of Vasyanov, who is best known as David Ayer’s cinematographer on End Of Watch, Fury, Suicide Squad and Bright.
Vasyanov’s debut, which he also co-wrote, is an adaptation of Alexei Ivanov’s novel Dorm To Blood. Set in the Soviet Union of 1984, it follows five students whose friendship...
- 3/2/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
We're back with a new installment of Horror Highlights! In today's edition, we trailers for Coma, Shifter, Fear Pharm, and Sputnik:
Watch the Trailer for Coma: "After a tragic accident, a young architect wakes up in a dystopian world: Coma. Here, reality is made from the memories of people who have fallen into a comatose state. Cities, rivers and the sky all flow in and out of each other -fragmented and unstable just like our memories. The common laws of physics don't exist and nightmarish reapers roam the land spreading death. Having lost most of his own memory, the architect must develop new skills to survive and adapt to the chaos around him. On his search for a way back to reality, he joins a rogue group of fighters and discovers a secret that will affect their lives forever.
Written by: Nikita Argunov, Aleksei Grawitski, and Timofei Dekin...
Watch the Trailer for Coma: "After a tragic accident, a young architect wakes up in a dystopian world: Coma. Here, reality is made from the memories of people who have fallen into a comatose state. Cities, rivers and the sky all flow in and out of each other -fragmented and unstable just like our memories. The common laws of physics don't exist and nightmarish reapers roam the land spreading death. Having lost most of his own memory, the architect must develop new skills to survive and adapt to the chaos around him. On his search for a way back to reality, he joins a rogue group of fighters and discovers a secret that will affect their lives forever.
Written by: Nikita Argunov, Aleksei Grawitski, and Timofei Dekin...
- 7/22/2020
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Tagline: "Wake Up to Save Everyone." Coma is a Russian language film from director Nikita Argunov. With English subtitles, this film will show in the U.S., this August. In the story, a young architect finds himself in a dystopian, new world. Here, fragmented memories create a strange world, while reapers stalk everyone. This title was shot in several countries including: the U.S., United Arab Emirates and China. Starring Irina Starshenbaum, Rinal Mukhametov and Anton Pampushnyy, this title will be distributed by Dark Sky Films, with more release details here. The trailer for Coma shows ever changing environments. Different countries and different cities morph into others as several characters fight back against dark creatures. With nothing permanent, Viktor will have to find a way to escape his own unconscious world. Dark Sky Films will show this feature on August 4th. On this date, the film will be available on DVD and Blu-ray formats,...
- 7/16/2020
- by noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
"Yulya! You're in danger." Dark Sky has released an official Us trailer for a sequel to the epic Russian sci-fi action movie Attraction from a few years back. (Which is actually worth a watch if you haven't caught it yet.) The sequel is titled Attraction 2: Invasion, or just Invasion for short, and continues the story from the first film focusing on a young woman who has gained some sort of powers from interacting with the alien technology. The first film had some awesome VFX shots and some very unique looking alien ships in it. Two years after her alien encounter, Julia is developing superhuman powers that have now made her the target of both the humans and the extraterrestrials. Irina Starshenbaum stars, with Rinal Mukhametov and Alexander Petrov. This trailer is dubbed into English, though the Us release will also include the original Russian version with subtitles. This looks...
- 6/10/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Variety has been given exclusive access to the Imax trailer, dubbed into English, to Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi actioner “Invasion,” the sequel to his 2017 blockbuster “Attraction.”
In the first film Moscow becomes the battleground for all-out war against an army of alien invaders. In the sequel, an alien spaceship crash lands in Moscow, and an ordinary girl gains superpowers that make her the focus of study in secret government labs. But it’s not only the humans who are interested in her new powers, and she will have to decide which side she is on.
The cast includes Irina Starshenbaum, Rinal Mukhametov, Alexander Petrov and Yuriy Borisov. The script is written by Andrew Zolotarev and Oleg Malovichko. Sony Pictures will release the film, produced by Bondarchuk’s Art Pictures Studio, in Russia and Cis on Jan. 1, 2020. In January it will be released in Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ex-Yugoslavia, Сyprus and Israel.
In the first film Moscow becomes the battleground for all-out war against an army of alien invaders. In the sequel, an alien spaceship crash lands in Moscow, and an ordinary girl gains superpowers that make her the focus of study in secret government labs. But it’s not only the humans who are interested in her new powers, and she will have to decide which side she is on.
The cast includes Irina Starshenbaum, Rinal Mukhametov, Alexander Petrov and Yuriy Borisov. The script is written by Andrew Zolotarev and Oleg Malovichko. Sony Pictures will release the film, produced by Bondarchuk’s Art Pictures Studio, in Russia and Cis on Jan. 1, 2020. In January it will be released in Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ex-Yugoslavia, Сyprus and Israel.
- 12/16/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Kirill Serebrennikov's Leto (2018) is having its exclusive online premiere on Mubi in the United Kingdom. It is showing from August 16 - September 14, 2019.A constrained, silenced audience claps along to electric guitars and drums that produce distinctively rock and roll tunes. Young men only dare to tap rhythmically with their toes, while the one attempt for fangirls to lift up a love-heart poster is hushed in seconds. As the camera glides past the band into the audience, the lead raises his voice only slightly to deliver the chorus finale: “You’re trash!” Amidst the loud bangs on cymbals and the bass riffs, something both cynical and liberating is taking form on stage: a chronotope, a lifestyle, Soviet rock and roll, a love story. In Leto fact meets fiction in reconstructing a time (1980s) and space (Leningrad) in a nostalgic manner, to tell the story of Russian idol Viktor Tsoi and...
- 8/15/2019
- MUBI
Penned by Michael and Lily Idov, Leto is a wistful and seductive look at the relationship between a young Viktor Tsoi (Teo Yoo) and musician Mike Naumenko (Roman Bilyk). Mike, a more seasoned artist, believes in and nurtures Viktor’s potential. When Mike’s partner Natasha (Irina Starshenbaum) becomes smitten with Viktor, Mike stands aside and lets [...]
The post Love and Friendship Solidifies The Epic Musical Fantasy Of ‘Leto’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
The post Love and Friendship Solidifies The Epic Musical Fantasy Of ‘Leto’ appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.
- 6/6/2019
- by Hollywood Outbreak
- HollywoodOutbreak.com
Leningrad, the early 1980s: the Soviet Union’s stranglehold on its citizens continues, glasnost is not even a glimmer in Gorbachev’s eye and it feels as if the Party will never end. The one thing that does seem to be thriving, however, is the city’s underground rock scene, albeit one with a crowd stifled by authoritarian apparatchiks. (A fan tries to hold up a homemade sign for her favorite rock band. A man in a suit shuts down this oh-so-revolutionary action down Asap.) The applause-ometer may never allowed...
- 6/5/2019
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
While we gear up for Cannes Film Festival (see our most-anticipated films here), a few of last year’s premieres are still looking for a U.S. release. One that recently got picked up was the Soviet-set rock ‘n’ roll drama Leto, from controversial director Kirill Serebrennikov, who was under house arrest in Moscow due to being accused of embezzling $2 million of government funds. His 80s-set counterculture film, acquired by Gunpowder & Sky, will get a release next month and now the U.S. trailer and poster have arrived.
Ed Frankl said in our review, “At a time when freedom of expression titters on the brink in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, there’s something thrillingly contemporary about Kirill Serebrennikov’s Soviet-set musical drama. Early 1980s St. Petersburg proves a breeding ground of underground music as rebellion, however tacit, emerges in home-grown rock and punk. Leto’s melancholic ode to rough-and-ready...
Ed Frankl said in our review, “At a time when freedom of expression titters on the brink in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, there’s something thrillingly contemporary about Kirill Serebrennikov’s Soviet-set musical drama. Early 1980s St. Petersburg proves a breeding ground of underground music as rebellion, however tacit, emerges in home-grown rock and punk. Leto’s melancholic ode to rough-and-ready...
- 5/14/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Leto! Gunpowder & Sky has debuted an official Us trailer for the indie Russian film Leto, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year to some rave reviews. This also went on to play at lots of other festivals throughout last year, from Karlovy Vary to Vienna and more. Leto, directed by filmmaker & theater director Kirill Serebrennikov who was under house arrest for the last year, is based on the true story of Viktor Tsoy and his band called Kino. The title translates to Summer, and the film is shot in black & white, evoking an old school feeling taking us back to the 70s & 80s. It's an awesome, groovy rock film with some incredible musical sequences that you just have to see on the big screen. Teo Yoo stars as Viktor Tsoy, and the main cast features Irina Starshenbaum, Roman Bilyk, Anton Adasinsky, Yuliya Aug, & Filipp Avdeev. This was one...
- 5/9/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Near the end of shooting “Leto,” his followup to breakout drama “The Student,” Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov was arrested, charged with embezzling $2 million in state funds from a Moscow-area avant-garde theater he runs, and ultimately placed under house arrest pending trial. Serebrennikov still finished the film, which was then accepted into Cannes’ Competition section, where it screened last May without its filmmaker in attendance.
That Serebrennikov’s arrest — he was just freed mere weeks ago, and is pushing for a full acquittal — came at the hands of a government that isn’t too hip to his outspoken anti-Kremlin views should give anyone pause as to its motivations, as should the content of the film he was making when the hammer came down on him. As with much of Serebrennikov’s work, it’s a film that makes plenty of veiled jabs at modern Russian life under Vladimir Putin’s rule,...
That Serebrennikov’s arrest — he was just freed mere weeks ago, and is pushing for a full acquittal — came at the hands of a government that isn’t too hip to his outspoken anti-Kremlin views should give anyone pause as to its motivations, as should the content of the film he was making when the hammer came down on him. As with much of Serebrennikov’s work, it’s a film that makes plenty of veiled jabs at modern Russian life under Vladimir Putin’s rule,...
- 5/8/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Second War War film grossed $10.6m in first four days.
Russian Second World War tank movie T-34 has become the most successful local film of all time to open at the Russian box office.
The film, released by Central Partnership, grossed $10.6m (713m roubles) over the four-day weekend from from January 3-6, a sizeable increase on the previous record set by Oleg Stepchenko’s fantasy film, Viy which grossed $9m ( 602m roubles) on its opening weekend in 2014.
With T-34 driving growth early 2019 growth, media measurement specialist Comscore confirmed the lucrative holiday season in Russia that ran from Janaury 1-...
Russian Second World War tank movie T-34 has become the most successful local film of all time to open at the Russian box office.
The film, released by Central Partnership, grossed $10.6m (713m roubles) over the four-day weekend from from January 3-6, a sizeable increase on the previous record set by Oleg Stepchenko’s fantasy film, Viy which grossed $9m ( 602m roubles) on its opening weekend in 2014.
With T-34 driving growth early 2019 growth, media measurement specialist Comscore confirmed the lucrative holiday season in Russia that ran from Janaury 1-...
- 1/11/2019
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The WW2 film has also newly sold to Japan Italy, the Gulf and Taiwan.
Altitude Film Distribution has acquired UK rights to $10m Russian tank movie T-34 from Moscow-based sales agent Mars Media. In the wake of the Afm, Mars Media has also sealed deals with Gulf (Middle East), Twin Co (Japan), Movie Cloud (Taiwan) and Minvera (Itay).
These follow deals already announced for Germany (Tiberius), Spain (Mediaset), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Baltics (Garsu) and Korea (Korea Screen.) A French deal is expected to be concluded imminently.
Written and directed by Alexey Sidorov, T-34 in set 1941 during the height of the Second World War.
Altitude Film Distribution has acquired UK rights to $10m Russian tank movie T-34 from Moscow-based sales agent Mars Media. In the wake of the Afm, Mars Media has also sealed deals with Gulf (Middle East), Twin Co (Japan), Movie Cloud (Taiwan) and Minvera (Itay).
These follow deals already announced for Germany (Tiberius), Spain (Mediaset), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Baltics (Garsu) and Korea (Korea Screen.) A French deal is expected to be concluded imminently.
Written and directed by Alexey Sidorov, T-34 in set 1941 during the height of the Second World War.
- 11/21/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The WW2 film has also newly sold to Japan Italy, the Gulf and Taiwan.
Altitude Film Distribution has acquired UK rights to $10m Russian tank movie T-34 from Moscow-based sales agent Mars Media. In the wake of the Afm, Mars Media has also sealed deals with Gulf (Middle East), Twin Co (Japan), Movie Cloud (Taiwan) and Minvera (Itay).
These follow deals already announced for Germany (Tiberius), Spain (Mediaset), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Baltics (Garsu) and Korea (Korea Screen.) A French deal is expected to be concluded imminently.
Written and directed by Alexey Sidorov, T-34 in set 1941 during the height of the Second World War.
Altitude Film Distribution has acquired UK rights to $10m Russian tank movie T-34 from Moscow-based sales agent Mars Media. In the wake of the Afm, Mars Media has also sealed deals with Gulf (Middle East), Twin Co (Japan), Movie Cloud (Taiwan) and Minvera (Itay).
These follow deals already announced for Germany (Tiberius), Spain (Mediaset), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Baltics (Garsu) and Korea (Korea Screen.) A French deal is expected to be concluded imminently.
Written and directed by Alexey Sidorov, T-34 in set 1941 during the height of the Second World War.
- 11/21/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
At a time when freedom of expression titters on the brink in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, there’s something thrillingly contemporary about Kirill Serebrennikov’s Soviet-set musical drama. Early 1980s St. Petersburg proves a breeding ground of underground music as rebellion, however tacit, emerges in home-grown rock and punk. Leto’s melancholic ode to rough-and-ready counterculture proves ever more relevant as Serebrennikov, himself an avant-garde theater director, remains under house arrest in Moscow.
Serebrennikov gives us a fictionalized version of his youth in urban Leningrad–as it was then known–shot in cool monochrome amid dimly lit apartments and the grotty confines of a bohemian side on the Soviet margins. In a blistering opening sequence, we see that in a microcosm: a handheld camera follows a posse of girls as they climb through a toilet window to the back of Soviet rock concert. Inside the crowd can only sit and...
Serebrennikov gives us a fictionalized version of his youth in urban Leningrad–as it was then known–shot in cool monochrome amid dimly lit apartments and the grotty confines of a bohemian side on the Soviet margins. In a blistering opening sequence, we see that in a microcosm: a handheld camera follows a posse of girls as they climb through a toilet window to the back of Soviet rock concert. Inside the crowd can only sit and...
- 9/26/2018
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
"From now on, I'm your tank leader." Lock & load, it's time for another tank movie! An official trailer has debuted for a new WWII tank movie titled T-34, a Russian movie directed by filmmaker Alexey Sidorov. The story tells of a courageous group of Russian soldiers who manage to escape from German captivity in a half-destroyed legendary T-34 tank. The footage shown in the trailer covers their time in captivity and their escape. Starring Alexander Petrov, Vinzenz Kiefer, Irina Starshenbaum. This trailer is, of course, in Russian but includes English subtitles, in hopes that it might find a big international audience considering it looks like an awesome WWII action thriller. We'll be keeping an eye out for this movie's release worldwide. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Aleksey Sidorov's T-34, direct from YouTube (via Deadline): Short synopsis for T-34: In 1944, a courageous group of Russian soldiers...
- 8/16/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Serebrennikov was unable to attend the Cannes premiere due to his disputed house arrest.
Paris-based sales company Charades has unveiled a slew of sales for Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov’s drama Leto, set against the backdrop of the early 1980s Leningrad rock scene, following its premiere in competition in Cannes.
The film has sold well worldwide including to Germany (Weltkino), Spain (Avalon), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Japan (Kino Films), Korea ( Atnine), Canada (MK2/Mile End), Benelux (Imagine), Poland (Gutek), Brazil (Imovision), Colombia (Cine Colombia), Turkey (Fabula), Sweden (Triart), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Mozinet), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms...
Paris-based sales company Charades has unveiled a slew of sales for Russian theatre and film director Kirill Serebrennikov’s drama Leto, set against the backdrop of the early 1980s Leningrad rock scene, following its premiere in competition in Cannes.
The film has sold well worldwide including to Germany (Weltkino), Spain (Avalon), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Japan (Kino Films), Korea ( Atnine), Canada (MK2/Mile End), Benelux (Imagine), Poland (Gutek), Brazil (Imovision), Colombia (Cine Colombia), Turkey (Fabula), Sweden (Triart), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Mozinet), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms...
- 5/24/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Cold WarDear Danny, Given that Loznitsa’s A Gentle Creature was perhaps the most unfairly dismissed entry in last year’s competition, I’m glad to hear that Donbass proved rewarding. I missed it myself, having spent most of the third day trekking down the Croisette to the Quinzaine des réalisateurs (Directors' Fortnight) and the Semaine de la Critique (Critics' Week) festivals, the latter of which offered little worth discussing thus far. Still, I'm glad I made the short journey, since the two Quinzaine selections were challenging and compelling in ways I hadn't anticipated. But let's start with two competitions entries, both of which turned out to be quasi-musicals of a sort. The first: Kirill Serebrennikov’s Leto (Summer), centered around the burgeoning underground scene of the Leningrad Rock Club in the early 1980s—“a cardboard England in a Baltic swamp," as Mike (Roman Bilyk), the popular frontman of one...
- 5/20/2018
- MUBI
In competition in Cannes this year is Russian director and festival darling (Betrayal was in competition in Venice in 2012) Kirill Serebrennikov. Though the film is in black-and-white, it is full of vibrant colour.
The film opens with a group of girls entering a gig backstage, up ladders and fire escapes via the men’s loos. We could be almost anywhere, at any time, the black-and-white taking us back to the 1960s. So far, so global. But once inside the venue, we are soon made aware of the differences between audiences on either side of the Iron Curtain: everyone is seated, toes are surreptitiously tapped, and standing up or waving posters are strictly policed and forbidden. Welcome to Leningrad circa 1981.
The band on stage is led by the charismatic Mike (Roman Bilyk). He loves Marc Bolan, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and of course David Bowie. New music is seeping into the...
The film opens with a group of girls entering a gig backstage, up ladders and fire escapes via the men’s loos. We could be almost anywhere, at any time, the black-and-white taking us back to the 1960s. So far, so global. But once inside the venue, we are soon made aware of the differences between audiences on either side of the Iron Curtain: everyone is seated, toes are surreptitiously tapped, and standing up or waving posters are strictly policed and forbidden. Welcome to Leningrad circa 1981.
The band on stage is led by the charismatic Mike (Roman Bilyk). He loves Marc Bolan, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and of course David Bowie. New music is seeping into the...
- 5/11/2018
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
On a long enough timeline, every rock scene of the 20th century will get the requiem it deserves. Manchester got “24 Hour Party People,” the American Midwest got “Almost Famous,” and now the Leningrad underground gets Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Leto,” which is as much an impressionist portrait of the Soviet Union on the brink of Perestroika as it is an elegiac tribute to the singing revolutionaries who helped pave the way. The film is all too happy to fudge some of the details and get a bit cute with the classics (often taking a sledgehammer directly to the fourth wall), but its freewheeling spirit results in an ecstatic look back at a brief window of time between oppressions. It’s a shambling, transportive, and semi-tragic story about a fleeting past where anything seemed possible.
Serebrennikov — whose 2016 breakthrough “The Student” was also obliquely critical of Russia’s current regime — doesn’t...
Serebrennikov — whose 2016 breakthrough “The Student” was also obliquely critical of Russia’s current regime — doesn’t...
- 5/10/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Filmmakers working in the rock music realm often have a fine needle to thread: When portraying a world of self-indulgence, how closely can they enter into the spirit of things before becoming self-indulgent themselves? In “Leto,” his sprawling, chaotically shaped ode to the underground Leningrad rock scene of the 1980s, gifted Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov only sporadically finds the sweet spot, landing on stray moments of both human tenderness and musical euphoria in a bemusing blizzard of assorted characters, styles and songs that often tips over into outright kitsch. Embellishing with numerous fictional details the true story of influential, tragically short-lived Soviet singer-songwriter Viktor Tsoi, “Leto” happily avoids the bland structural pitfalls of the musical biopic, but also provides outsiders with few entry points to its rather niche milieu. The scene is the star here, and Serebrennikov is more concerned that we experience it than understand it.
That conflicting blend...
That conflicting blend...
- 5/10/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year.
Russian production and sales outfit Art Pictures Studios is beginning pre-sales in Cannes on the sequel to Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi blockbuster Attraction.
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year. Art Pictures Studio’s head of sales Anna Strunevskaya has confirmed that the script for the second film is complete and that shooting will begin this summer. Bondarchuk is again set to direct and some of the original cast members including Irina Starshenbaum and Oleg Menshikov are set to return.
Russian production and sales outfit Art Pictures Studios is beginning pre-sales in Cannes on the sequel to Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi blockbuster Attraction.
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year. Art Pictures Studio’s head of sales Anna Strunevskaya has confirmed that the script for the second film is complete and that shooting will begin this summer. Bondarchuk is again set to direct and some of the original cast members including Irina Starshenbaum and Oleg Menshikov are set to return.
- 5/8/2018
- ScreenDaily
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year.
Russian production and sales outfit Art Pictures Studios is beginning pre-sales in Cannes on the sequel to Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi blockbuster Attraction.
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year. Art Pictures Studio’s head of sales Anna Strunevskaya has confirmed that the script for the second film is complete and that shooting will begin this summer. Bondarchuk is again set to direct and some of the original cast members including Irina Starshenbaum and Oleg Menshikov are set to return.
Russian production and sales outfit Art Pictures Studios is beginning pre-sales in Cannes on the sequel to Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi blockbuster Attraction.
The original 3D alien invasion movie was a box-office success in Russia last year. Art Pictures Studio’s head of sales Anna Strunevskaya has confirmed that the script for the second film is complete and that shooting will begin this summer. Bondarchuk is again set to direct and some of the original cast members including Irina Starshenbaum and Oleg Menshikov are set to return.
- 5/8/2018
- ScreenDaily
wide
The Post [my review] pictured
Meryl Streep costars as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham at a critical juncture in the paper’s history. Cowritten by Liz Hannah. (male director)
limited
Attraction (Prityazhenie) [my review]
Irina Starshenbaum costars as a teenaged girl who falls for an alien just visiting Earth. (male director and writers)
Lover for a Day [IMDb]
Esther Garrel and Louise Chevillote costar as, respectively, the adult daughter of and the new lover of the same man in this French drama. Cowritten by Caroline Deruas-Garrel and Arlette Langmann. (male director)
Please let me know if I’ve missed any movies directed by, written by, or about women.
Please help me continue this work with your financial support. A recurring contribution or a one-time donation, even only $1, is a great help, and tells me that my work here is valued. Thank you. Links here for PayPal, Patreon, and other methods of donating.
Find...
The Post [my review] pictured
Meryl Streep costars as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham at a critical juncture in the paper’s history. Cowritten by Liz Hannah. (male director)
limited
Attraction (Prityazhenie) [my review]
Irina Starshenbaum costars as a teenaged girl who falls for an alien just visiting Earth. (male director and writers)
Lover for a Day [IMDb]
Esther Garrel and Louise Chevillote costar as, respectively, the adult daughter of and the new lover of the same man in this French drama. Cowritten by Caroline Deruas-Garrel and Arlette Langmann. (male director)
Please let me know if I’ve missed any movies directed by, written by, or about women.
Please help me continue this work with your financial support. A recurring contribution or a one-time donation, even only $1, is a great help, and tells me that my work here is valued. Thank you. Links here for PayPal, Patreon, and other methods of donating.
Find...
- 1/19/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
MaryAnn’s quick take… It has a spectacular opening sequence, and features a few minor tweaks to alien-invasion tropes. But the teen romance at its center reduces this to a very inconsequential first contact. I’m “biast” (pro): big science fiction geek
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
A few years ago, Fedor Bondarchuk directed the first ever Russian film shot in 3D IMAX, the historical action drama Stalingrad, which was a huge box office hit there. Now he’s back with Attraction, another huge hit in 3D IMAX in Russia last year. The film is not, alas, being released in 3D IMAX in the UK, which is a shame only because the spectacle of its opening sequence might just about make the movie worth paying for, too experience it in such a dramatic format.
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
A few years ago, Fedor Bondarchuk directed the first ever Russian film shot in 3D IMAX, the historical action drama Stalingrad, which was a huge box office hit there. Now he’s back with Attraction, another huge hit in 3D IMAX in Russia last year. The film is not, alas, being released in 3D IMAX in the UK, which is a shame only because the spectacle of its opening sequence might just about make the movie worth paying for, too experience it in such a dramatic format.
- 1/19/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Fedor Bondarchuk’s sci-fi drama serves up striking cityscapes and decent special effects but feels slightly tired
Fedor Bondarchuk is the Russian director who has emerged from the shadow of his celebrated father, Sergei, as a commercial force: his Afghanistan war movie 9th Company (2005) – avowedly inspired by Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down – made its mark, though his gung-ho 3D action film Stalingrad (2013) was misguidedly macho and gamer-ish. Now he has made this moderate sci-fi invasion movie, with special effects that are serviceable, if not exactly state-of-the-art. A big spaceship lands with an almighty crash on Moscow’s tough housing district Chertanovo: some very striking cityscape shots of bleak high-rise buildings, here, eerier than any UFO. An alien divests himself of his giant-bug exoskeleton, taking human form as a handsome young guy, Hijken (Rinal Mukhametov), who entrances Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum) the teen daughter of the military honcho tasked with repelling...
Fedor Bondarchuk is the Russian director who has emerged from the shadow of his celebrated father, Sergei, as a commercial force: his Afghanistan war movie 9th Company (2005) – avowedly inspired by Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down – made its mark, though his gung-ho 3D action film Stalingrad (2013) was misguidedly macho and gamer-ish. Now he has made this moderate sci-fi invasion movie, with special effects that are serviceable, if not exactly state-of-the-art. A big spaceship lands with an almighty crash on Moscow’s tough housing district Chertanovo: some very striking cityscape shots of bleak high-rise buildings, here, eerier than any UFO. An alien divests himself of his giant-bug exoskeleton, taking human form as a handsome young guy, Hijken (Rinal Mukhametov), who entrances Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum) the teen daughter of the military honcho tasked with repelling...
- 1/18/2018
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
'The alien's exoskeleton was a long job. We made a clip where we found the movements of various animals, insects and snakes and selected the movements we liked' Photo: Art Pictures Fedor Bondarchuk Photo: Denis Ishtokin As part of the first Fipresci colloquium on Russian cinema in St Petersburg, actor-turned-director Fedor Bondarchuk took part in a Q&A about his film Attraction. The Russian blockbuster, which was a box office hit in his home country and opened London's Russian Film Week this month, tells the story of alien Hijken (Rinal Mukhametov) who gets into trouble when his spacecraft is shot down over Moscow. As he tries to recover a vital part of his ship, he enlists the help of teenager Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum), who also happens to be the daughter of a high-ranking army colonel (Oleg Menshikov). As the attraction between the Yulya and Hijken grows, so do the problems...
- 11/23/2017
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"It depends on what they do next." Another new trailer has launched for the epic Russian alien arrival sci-fi action movie titled Attraction. We posted three different trailers for this movie all through last year, since it opened in Russia in January of this year. It's just now getting a UK release next January, which is why they've launched their own UK trailer. This is my kind of sci-fi - the VFX are top notch, the concept seems exciting and entertaining, the aliens (and their ship) look cool, I'm really looking forward to this (still). The film stars Oleg Menshikov, Alexander Petrov, Rinal Mukhametov, and Irina Starshenbaum. "The drama unfolds in the ruins of a working-class suburb overwhelmed by the disaster, as the military struggles to control fear, anger, and the eventual clash between Earth and visitors from another galaxy." Take a look. Here's the newest UK trailer (+ UK poster) for Fedor Bondarchuk's Attraction,...
- 11/9/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
[Editor's Note: This is the first of our coverage of the Edinburgh International Film Festival!]
A slick, big-budget Russian sci-fi film from director Fedor Bondarchuk, Attraction begins with a meteor-shower passing over Moscow which causes an alien spaceship - silently observing the Earth in order to assess our worthiness as candidates for first-contact - to crash-land in the city. As the military swing into action, citizens begin to panic, and we're witness to the aftermath of this historic event.
Attraction is a sort of ensemble-piece, following the lives of high school student Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum), Yulya's boyfriend Artyom (Alexander Petrov) and her father, Colonel Lebedev (Oleg Menshikov), who happens to be in charge of the military operation [Continued ...]...
A slick, big-budget Russian sci-fi film from director Fedor Bondarchuk, Attraction begins with a meteor-shower passing over Moscow which causes an alien spaceship - silently observing the Earth in order to assess our worthiness as candidates for first-contact - to crash-land in the city. As the military swing into action, citizens begin to panic, and we're witness to the aftermath of this historic event.
Attraction is a sort of ensemble-piece, following the lives of high school student Yulya (Irina Starshenbaum), Yulya's boyfriend Artyom (Alexander Petrov) and her father, Colonel Lebedev (Oleg Menshikov), who happens to be in charge of the military operation [Continued ...]...
- 6/27/2017
- QuietEarth.us
How does this looks so awesome?! Another trailer has debuted for Russian alien arrival movie Attraction, or Prityazhenie, about a giant craft that crash lands in Russia. We featured two original trailers for this a few months ago, and this new trailer has even more footage of the alien creatures and their spacecraft. The film stars Oleg Menshikov, Alexander Petrov, Rinal Mukhametov and Irina Starshenbaum. It's made by the same guy who made Stalingrad and will be presented in IMAX 3D (at least in Russia) when it opens. The action really ramps up near the end, and it actually looks impressive. The VFX are better than most Hollywood movies, and the whole thing has an epic feeling to it. I'm excited to see this! Might be good. Here's the third official trailer (+ poster) for Fedor Bondarchuk's Attraction, found directly on YouTube: You can still watch the first two trailers for Attraction here,...
- 11/21/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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