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Wild Bunch has snatched up all rights in Germany, France and Spain for The Pilot: A Battle for Survival, a Russian World War II action film from director Renat Davletyarov (Steel Butterfly, Mortal Affair).

The Pilot is set in December 1941. Russian pilot Nikolai Komlev (Dead Mountain and Stalingrad star Pyotr Fyodorov) flying his Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, is shot down behind enemy lines. After surviving a crash in a remote forest, he has to find his way back home, battling hunger and extreme cold while evading packs of hungry wolves and detachments of German soldiers.

“We were really convinced by the story and the ...

Simon Brew Nov 15, 2017

Attraction tells the story of an alien invasion. And here's the first trailer...

Think the cinema of Russia, and you might not ordinarily think about an extra-terrestrial invasion. However, that’s just what the upcoming movie Attraction is set to deal with. And what’s more, it’s getting a UK release.

Attraction lands in UK cinemas in January, and we’ve got the trailer and synopsis for you to take a look at. It’s worth noting that the movie is from director Fedor Bondarchuk, who helmed Stalingrad. And it’s shaping up like this…

The synopsis for the movie reads as follows…

Attraction is the latest movie by Fedor Bondarchuk, the director of the Russian box-office smash Stalingrad. It's a bold, epic sci-fi story following the devastating crash-landing of a mysterious flying object in Moscow, after it is shot down by the Russian Air Force.

Contemporary Moscow becomes a battleground for the survival of the human race in Attraction, a bombastic alien-invasion thriller whose familiar plot is elevated by world-class visual effects. Director Fyodor Bondarchuk is the son of the late Soviet-era Oscar-winning filmmaker Sergei Bondarchuk and a public supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is arguably reflected in this film’s patriotic political subtext, although Bondarchuk insists the message is more universal than local. Prior to this, his most recent project was the 2013 epic Stalingrad, which Russia pitched unsuccessfully to the Academy Awards.

Attraction is already a box-office hit domestically, where it played...

Expensive-ish (by Russian standards, anyway) and claustrophobic, Aleksei Mizgirev’s The Duelist resembles an unholy cross of the worst of Tom Hooper and Zack Snyder—and worse yet, it’s mostly diverting. Stalingrad’s Pyotr Fyodorov plays Yakovlev, a disgraced nobleman who returns to mid-19th century Saint Petersburg as a hired gun. Yakovlev is one of those black-clad antiheroes who spends much of his time reminding the viewer that he’s an antihero. He is a man with a dark past, a sharpshooter (his signature trick is blowing a shot glass off his own head with a ricocheted bullet), and a contract killer. Paid by unknown conspirators, he provokes noblemen into deadly duels with the help of a nameless German accomplice (Martin Wuttke).

The premise of intrigue and revenge in a high-society Tsarist underworld is irresistible and pulpy, but Mizgirev’s script is an indigestible, soap-operatic mess of backstories,...

Exclusive: Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk is enticing distributors with his ambitious IMAX 3D feature Attraction.

Art Picture Studio has announced several eye-catching new deals on the action/sci-fi survival movie, due to be released in Russia early next year, in which aliens descend on Moscow.

Capelight has now come on board to take the German rights, while other major territories that have been closed include Japan (Presidio) and South Korea (Lumix Media).

Steffen Gerlach, co-owner of Capelight, commented about the deal: “We released Hardcore Henry earlier this year theatrically and German fans are really excited about the new wave of Russian action films, so we are really proud to present Attraction, the next Russian sci-fi blockbuster, to the German audience on the big screen in 2017.”

During Cannes in May, Art Picture Studio struck an exclusive deal with Chinese company H.G.С. Entertainment Limited for a simultaneous opening of Attraction in Russia and China on 10,000 screens.

Attraction...

Fedor Bondarchuk, director of Russia's all-time biggest local grosser, Stalingrad, has returned behind the camera for Attraction, the market's first-ever alien invasion movie. From Art Pictures Studio and Vodorod, Attraction is being released locally via Sony on January 26, 2017. The epic sci-fi story sees lives forever changed when a mysterious flying space object crashes over Moscow. (Check out the trailer above.) Sony’s Columbia also released 2013's Stalingrad which…...

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,...

Speakers included Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, American producer John D. Heinsen, and cinematographer John Mathieson.

A focus on Russian cinema was the main event at this year’s European Genre Forum, held at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 11-27).

Producer Alexander Rodnyansky – whose credits include Fedor Bondarchuk’s war epic Stalingrad, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar-nominated Leviathan, and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills – gave a talk about the state of Russian cinema, moderated by Black Nights festival director Tiina Lokk.

Rodnyansky [pictured top with Tiina Lokk] is at the festival with The Duelist, which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, a historical epic starring Petr Fedorov as a deadly gun-for-hire.

“Since 2000 Russian cinema got back the ambition to produce genre movies,” he said.

“Russian genre cinema has the potential to come up with really ambitious projects and to recoup investments in a single language territory [in Russia].”

He explained that he had focussed his career on “high quality movies” and had...

I'd never heard of The Duelist before, but Sony Pictures has just unveiled a full trailer for the upcoming foreign film that looks pretty damn cool. It's set in 1800s Russia and follows an incredibly effective gunfighter who stands in as a duelist for nobles whose honor is slighted by others. But things take a turn when he falls for the sister of a young prince.

This movie looks crazy expensive, with some gorgeous sweeping landscape shots and rad-looking costumes, and it feels a little like a cross between a period romance and an almost steampunk-style take on something like The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm interested to hear what you all think about this trailer.

The Duelist is written and directed by Alexey Mizgirev, and it stars Petr Fedorov, Vladimir Mashkov, Martin Wuttke, Julia Khlynina, Yuri Kolokolnikov, and Franziska Petri. It hits theaters on December 2, 2016.

This deceptively glossy production...

Whoa! This looks cool. A new teaser trailer has debuted for a Russian alien invasion/arrival movie called Attraction. We've also added the original teaser along with the new trailer, since this is the first time we've encountered this film. There's some awesome footage in this, mainly the original arrival and crash in a city. The ship design is incredibly unique, and I love the way it looks as it crashes down. 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 newest teaser actually reveals the aliens, which are huge creatures without a discernible face, making me even more intrigued. Along with Guardians, there are some impressive action movies coming out of Russia these days. Here's the first two teaser trailers (+ poster) for Fedor Bondarchuk's Attraction,...

Editor’s Note: This article is presented in partnership with Bleecker Street’s release of “Anthropoid,” directed by Sean Ellis and starring Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy. “Anthropoid” is now playing in theaters.

This week, “Anthropoid” looks to join the ranks of a rich and complex cinematic history: films about World War II. A global conflict that has yielded global stories, World War II continues to be the basis for films that challenge our perceptions. “Anthropoid” uncovers an episode from before the fighting stopped, focusing on the attempt to assassinate high-ranking SS General Reinhard Heydrich. Writer/Director Sean Ellis uses the true-life mission as a backdrop for a talented ensemble, including Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan and Toby Jones.

The best of these modern WWII films never lose sight of the idea that this was a conflict fought by individuals. Their weapons and their ideologies were varied, but this was history...

It was back in late April that a first teaser arrived for Fedor Bondarchuk's Russian science fiction film Attraction. With titles such as Stalingrad and 9th Company under his belt, Bondarchuk is pretty much the apex predator of the Russian film industry - when it comes to big, glossy, populist entertainment, nobody does it better - kind of like Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer rolled up into one but with a better grasp of character. So new Bondarchuk is kind of a big deal. His latest pitches a first contact scenario with humans and aliens meeting for the first time. And now that a second trailer has arrived it becomes clear that destruction comes with our visitors, though whether that be intentional or accidental is...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Exclusive: Fedor Bondarchuk and Dmitry Rudovsky have revealed their production slate in Cannes.

Fedor Bondarchuk [pictured] and Dmitry Rudovsky’s Art Pictures Studios, the Russian outfit behind the epic war movie Stalingrad, has announced details of its new slate.

Art Pictures’ new flagship project is sci-fi epic Attraction, which is in production and due to be released in IMAX theatres next year. During the market, the film has been sold to China.

The company also has a host of other new projects: Pavel Lungin’s psychological thriller Queen Of Spades; 3D animation Kikoriki: Legend Of The Golden Dragon; and comedies Anyone But Them, When Your Dog Is Your Matchmaker and Love On The Roof.

Attraction, which Bomdarchuk is directing, centres aliens descending on Moscow and the impact on civilization. The cast includes Oleg Menshikov and Alexander Petrov.

Further news of the films will be given at a Roskino new projects showcase in Cannes, which runs through...

"You've died so many times. You will never die again." Well, this looks crazy cool. Sony Pictures Russia has debuted a trailer for a big-budget Russian adventure movie called The Duelist, directed by indie filmmaker Alexey Mizgirev. A few moviegoers might've seen the WWII action movie Stalingrad a few years back, as it was released in IMAX by Sony. This is Sony's latest Russian feature that they're be releasing to Us audiences in IMAX even though no date has been set yet. The Duelist is about a vengeful duelist who never loses. The cast includes Pyotr Fyodorov (Stalingrad), Vladimir Mashkov (Ghost Protocol), Yuri Kolokolnikov (Game of Thrones), and Martin Wuttke (Inglorious Basterds). This seems dark and epic and very violent. Here's the official trailer for Alexey Mizgirev's The Duelist, direct from Sony Pictures Russia's YouTube: An adventure film, with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and...

Already well established as an actor and on the rise as a producer by the time he burst onto the scene as the director of 2005 war effort 9th Company, Fedor Bondarchuk's rise to the top of the heap in his native Russia has been swift and complete. As an actor his resume spans more than fifty titles. As a producer over thirty, among them some of the nation's biggest hits. And as a director? Bondarchuk moved from 9th Company to the large scale spectacle of The Inhabited Island to the massive scale destruction of Stalingrad and will next return to scifi with the upcoming Attraction (Притяжение). With his taste for high end, VFX driven spectacle Bondarchuk is in many ways Russia's answer to Michael...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Fox International Productions (Fip) has signed an exclusive first-look deal for Russian-language films with Paul Heth and Michael Schlicht.

Fip president Tomas Jegeus and Twentieth Century Fox Emea evp Paul Higginson made the announcement on Wednesday with Heth and Schlicht.

The pact covers both co-productions and acquisitions of Russian-language films and is supplemental to Fox’s existing co-production and acquisitions relationships and activities in Russia and Cis.

Heth and Schlicht are longtime producing partners whose credits include Stalingrad – the highest grossing film in Russian box office history – as well as the Very Best Movie comedy franchise, Vysotsky: Thank God I Am Alive and Battalion.

The pair will work closely with 20th Century Fox International’s managing director for Russia, Vadim Smirnov.

Heth is a Moscow-based media entrepreneur and owner and CEO of the Karo cinema chain who is regarded as an active player in the revival of Russia’s exhibition sector.

Schlicht is a film...

There's not much in the film world that Russia's Fedor Bondarchuk doesn't do and do very well. One of the nation's most popular actors he is also a hugely acclaimed director (Stalingrad, Inhabited Island, 9th Company)while his Art Pictures Studio is one of the nation's most reliable producers. And Bondarchuk has both his actor and producer hats on for the upcoming Warrior (Воин).The formula here is a familiar one, the story of a pair of brothers on a collision course to meet in the ring as both try to support their families and, yes, it certainly appears to be yet another officially sanctioned remake of Gavin O'Connor's 2011 picture of the same title. And rather a well done one.No subtitles on the trailer, unfortunately, but...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

At its annual presentation of Russian projects looking for co-production partners earlier this week, Roskino provided a platform for producers to present new projects in the Cannes market.

Among the highest-profile films introduced was political-thriller Beirut from Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk, written by Bagirov Eduard. This tells the story of Kgb agent Lantsov, who arrives in Beirut after two Ussr embassy employees have been kidnapped.

Also presented was Adolescence ID, from Olga Zhirova and Julia Vorobieva of Milky Cinema Production. The five-part portmanteau film, to be made across Russia, Germany, Georgia, Malta and France, will explore the nlives of teenagers entering adulthood.

Sreda Production’s Alexander Tsekalo and Anna Gudkova introduced The Philosophical Steamer, directed by Alexander Kott and written by Oleg Malovichko. Set in Russia 1922, the film is about a Cheka officer pursuing a group of exiled intellectuals during the Lenin era.

The upcoming biopic Lenin was discussed by producers Yelena Yatsura and Yuri Krestinskiy from TriKita...

Exclusive: Leading Russian distributor Central Partnership is returning to sales after several years away and is in Cannes with a slate of big budget genre movies including sci-thrillers and historical action fare.

“We are relaunching our sales outfit,” evp of international Armen Dishdishyan told ScreenDaily. “Now we are back, I think we have collected the best movie projects in production in Russia.”

The four film slate slate includes $10 million 3D action adventure Mafia, currently shooting. Based in a futuristic Moscow, the film is about a popular big money game broadcast on TV. Whoever loses is killed. Central Partnership is screening footage during the Marché.

Also new in the market is CGI driven $20m Flight Crew, which is being shot largely with an Iamx camera. Directed by Nikolay Lebedev, it has high profile producers including Nikita Mikhalkov It is a remake of 1979 Russian hit Air Crew. Central Partnership will have a few minutes footage of the project, which...

Sticking with classic myth and legend, but giving both a spin in the genre blender, Hercules screenwriter Ryan Condal has completed a screenplay for The Infinite Horizon. Based on the comics by Gerry Duggan, it's a sci-fi take on Homer's Odyssey. Warner Bros. have picked it up for development, and Greg Berlanti (Pan, Green Lantern) has been assigned as one of the producers.Duggan's series for Image Comics casts a soldier with no name other than "The Captain" in the Odysseus role. After years of war in the Middle East he leads a disparate band of soldiers on their long journey home across the world. On the way they endure a shipwreck; the Cyclops is reimagined as a vicious enemy wearing "cycloptic armour"; and the Sirens take the form of "a predatory society".The Infinite Horizon now represents the third film version of the Odyssey currently in active development. It...

Russia will present a total of six pictures at the 5th Beijing International Film Festival, to be held April 16th–23rd. Sergey Mokritsky’s "The Battle For Sevastopol" and Ramil Salakhutdinov’s "White, White Night" are included in the main competition while Andrey Konchalovsky’s "The Postman’s White Nights," Alexander Mitta’s "Chagall – Malevich" and Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov’s "Journey to the Mother" will be screened in the festival’s sidebar. Roman Prygunov’s "Downshifter" has been selected for the Gala Premiere section.

Among the Beijing festival jury members is Fedor Bondarchuk, the prominent Russian filmmaker, actor, producer, and Chairman of the Lenfilm studio Board of Directors. Roskino provides Public Relations support for the heavy Russian presence at the 5th International Festival in Beijing.

Katya Mtsitouridze, Roskino CEO: “From this year on, the Beijing Festival will be curated by Marco Mueller, previously at the helm of the Venice Festival. It is his ardent love of Russian culture that we have to credit for launching international careers of such stellar young filmmakers as Ivan Vyrypaev, Kirill Serebrennikov, Alexey German Jr., and Alexey Fedorchenko. Venice has also honored many a luminary from Russia, ranging from Nikita Mikhalkov to Alexey Balabanov. Alexander Sokurov’s Faust even took the Golden Lion in 2011. This tradition lives on as we can see already, in Marco Mueller’s first year, six Russian movies at Beijing. The governments of our countries are currently collaborating to expand the Russian quotas in Chinese theatres, and Roskino’s first business trip to Beijing, with any luck, should be the next step in this direction. Over the last couple of years, China has made tremendous progress undermining, by its rapid growth, the Hollywood monopoly in the film industry. There is still plenty of room for improvement for us.”

Alyona Shumakova, member of the Selection Committee, Beijing International Film Festival: “We were faced with the tall order of presenting Russian film as a vital artistic force which reflects, at the same time, a dramatically changed reality. It is also worth bearing in mind that the huge audience of these films will consist mostly of regular moviegoers, besides the usual festival crowd of film buffs. We are, mind you, dealing with a country that knows very little about Russian cinema and has yet to develop a concrete image of it. I believe that our picks, with their magnificent visuals and emotional intensity, more than rise to the challenge and accurately reflect the new world we live in.”

At the 2014 Cannes Iff, "The Battle for Sevastopol" was first pitched to industry professionals and international press at the Russian Pavilion opening ceremony. A Russian–Ukrainian co-production, this period drama tells the story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a legendary WWII sniper. The wide release in Russia is scheduled for April 2nd, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Liberation. The protagonist is played by the masterful thespian Yulia Peresild.

Sergei Mokritsky, director: “As I was making a movie about the most lethal female sniper of WWII, I didn’t even dare dream of an international premiere in Beijing. It is an honor as well as a huge responsibility. Overall, China is the closest in spirit, and yet most mysterious country for me as it is for every Russian. I’m really looking forward to the Chinese reception of my movie, because what I aspired to with it was a blend of Soviet war-film mythology, modern cinematic language, and typically Slavic zest for life.”

Ramil Salakhutdinov’s "White, White Night" tells the story of a young man who suddenly goes missing when he travels to Saint Petersburg for a concert. Sent over from Moscow, the private eye hired to locate him meets a lot of people during investigation, and gradually immerses himself in the bleak present-day atmosphere of the city he once lived in. Against his better judgment, the sleuth takes the guy under his wing, which ultimately validates him and boosts his own sense of self-worth. The movie first played in competition at the 2014 edition of Kinotavr.

Ramil Salakhutdinov, director: “I strove to understand––to feel––what it’s like to live in our trying times, in an era of profound change.”

Alexey German Jr., creative director: “It’s a huge victory for Ramil. He’s a wonderful filmmaker, a magnificent actor, and an artist of incredibly fine sensibilities. His recognition by the Biff proves yet again that Salakhutdinov’s work is appreciated internationally.”

Andrey Konchalovskiy's "The Postman’s White Nights" will play in the festival’s sidebar.

In 2014, the film was awarded Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. It recounts the life of a real man, village postman Alexey Tryapitsyn, who resides in the Arkhangelsk region and portrays himself on screen. Though a work of fiction rather than a documentary, the film has only one professional actress in its cast.

Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov’s drama "Journey to the Mother" is also playing in the festival’s parallel section. It is the story of a Russian guy who goes to France to see his mother, and meets his sister for the first time. The film’s leading actress is Adele Exarchopoulos, the star of Palme d’Or-winning "Blue Is the Warmest Color" and co-recipient of the Cannes festival’s highest honor.

Aleksandr Mitta’s "Chagall – Malevich" will play in the Special Screenings section. Set during Marc Chagall’s “Vitebsk period,” the story of an all-consuming love between the great artist and his wife Bella plays out against the backdrop of a historic duel he fought with Kazimir Malevich, his genius contemporary and fierce opponent.

Roman Prygunov’s "Downshifter" is set to bow internationally in the Gala Premiere section of the festival.

A sequel to the highest grossing Russian movie of 2012, "Downshifter" continues with the adventures of Max Andreev, a senior executive forced by the vicissitudes of his life to wipe the slate clean. The star of the production is Danila Kozlovsky, one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. Made for $4M, the movie recouped its budget over the first weekend in theaters. Fedor Bondarchuk, who produced the box-office smash, currently predicts a final take north of $9M.

Russian filmmaker and producer Fedor Bondarchuk, whose historical drama "Stalingrad" was a runaway success in China in 2013, has been appointed a jury member for the 5 Beijing International Festival. He will share his duty with such directors as Ki-duk Kim (South Korea) and Fernando Meirelles (Brazil); screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen (USA); producer and director Peter Chan (Thailand); and Chinese actress, star of "Cloud Atlas," Zhou Xun. French director and producer Luc Besson, whose output in both capacities has long transcended the confines of local fame, will serve as President of the Jury. The festival program comprises 930 films from 90 countries. The festival’s top prize Tiantan is awarded in ten categories, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Actor.

Fedor Bondarchuk, producer, filmmaker: “ I’m honored and humbled to be invited to serve as a jury member for the Beijing Iff. The strategic partnership between Russia and China is now reinforced not only in politics and economy but also in the cultural sphere, of which film is an integral part. Stalingrad’s impressive Chinese grosses show enormous demand for Russian filmmaking.”

Marco Mueller, Chief Adviser for the Beijing Iff: “Ever since Stalingrad dominated the Chinese box office in 2013 (it was the highest-grossing foreign film of the year, apart from the American “commercial heavy artillery”), the interest in Russian film has reached a new level in the country. I think that from this year on, our festival’s appreciation of Russian film will also move to the next level. This year our program boasts an amazing selection, and Fedor Bondarchuk has every chance to achieve cult status in China––he is, after all, already on the jury! I would also like to note that our cooperation with China is off to a highly professional start as the Russian presence at the festival is supported by the government-owned Roskino. It is this level of commitment that allows us to make serious plans for the future.”...

To celebrate the release of Dark Planet - coming to DVD 16th February – we have a copy to giveaway courtesy of Bulldog Film Distribution. Dark Planet is a sweeping and action-packed science fiction film set in the year 2157 and based on the writings of the legendary russian authors Arkadiy and Boris Strugatskiy.

Directed by Fedor Bondarchuk (Stalingrad) and starring Yuliya Snigir (A Good Day to Die Hard) the film follows the exploits of a young earthling named Maxim who, after unexpectedly crash landing on an uncharted planet, must learn to survive in this hostile new world while simultaneously bringing about a revolution against an oppressive government that controls its citizens with a sinister form of mind control. Synopsis:

The year is 2157: Maxim is on a mission in deep space when his ship crashes on an unknown planet. Despite the highly advanced weaponry and technology developed by the planet’s tyrannical leaders,...

Oh, Vinnie Jones ... the footballer-turned-actor doesn't exactly scream quality these days and it's very odd to see him turn up in a support part in upcoming Russian scifi project Calculator (Вычислитель) but let's put the Jones of it all aside for a moment because the trailer for this one looks quite solid.Produced for a reported budget just over two million dollars this comes from producer Fyodor Bondarchuk and while Bondarchuk's own directing efforts these days tend towards the massive - see Stalingrad and Inhabited Island as examples - his Art Pictures production house has always shown an ability to stretch a budget and deliver absolute top notch visual quality and this appears to be no exception. Set in the far future the story follows...

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Cannes Marche exec and Stalingrad director join forthcoming Saint Petersburg International Media Forum.

Russian cinema promoter Roskino has named the latest international figures to join the board of the Saint Petersburg International Media Forum (Spimf), set to run Oct 1-10.

The new members of the Board are Jerome Paillard, the executive director of Cannes’ Marche du Film; director and producer Fedor Bondarchuk, who also chairs the board of directors at Lenfilm Studios; and publisher Jay Penske.

Bondarchuk, director of 3D blockbuster Stalingrad, said: “The Russian media industry is becoming more and more integrated into the global media industry and is gradually starting to participate in discussions on key questions and trends as a full member.

“I’m sure that Saint Petersburg’s Media Forum will become a platform for international business, a festival with a rich and diverse programme and a market for new media technologies, uniting Russian and international professionals and audiences.”

Spimf’s Board...

Filmmaker Alexander Sokurov, Efm president Beki Probst and actor-director-producer Fyodor Bondarchuk (Stalingrad) are among the high-profile names backing a new event in St. Petersburg.

The Saint Petersburg International Media Forum (Spimf) will launch next month and will run Oct 1-10.

Russian Ark director Sokurov will coordinate the workshop programme for a Cinema Lab for up to 100 young non-professionals wanting to make films and will invite colleagues from the industry to give masterclasses.

The Lab will be held outside of St Petersburg in the seaside town of Repino and reprises the campus of budding filmmakers Sokurov oversaw during the Kinoforum in 2011.

Probst and Bondarchuk are members of an advisory board, including Mikhail Piotrovsky, the State Hermitage Museum director, and Georgiy Poltavchenko, acting governor of St. Petersburg, who are supporting Roskino in its organisation of the Forum, which will be held in the city’s Old Stock Exchange building on the Vasiliyevsky Island.

Ambitious programme...

"Are you kidding me, man?!" composer Angelo Badalamenti howls jokingly when Rolling Stone asks him what he thought of Twin Peaks, the TV series he scored in the early Nineties. "It was really off the wall. I thought it was either going to sink violently down the drain or, hopefully, capture the intrigue of enthusiastic people conversing by the office water cooler on a Monday morning."

12 Things We Learned from David Lynch's Talk at Bam

As it turned out, Twin Peaks was an instant hit when it premiered on April 8th,...

Speaking at the Odessa Film Festival the producer of Sergey Mokritsky’s war drama Unbroken said that the project had now completed principal photography.

20th Century Fox and Universal are among the Us majors ¨in talks¨ to take on worldwide distribution for Sergey Mokritsky’s € 3.7m biopic/war drama Unbroken.

Speaking at this week’s Works in Progress showcase at the Odessa Film Industry Office, producer Egor Olesov of Kiev-based Kinorob said that the Ukrainian-Russian co-production - which had previously previously gone under the working title of The Battle Of Sevastopol - completed principal photography in Kiev on last Tuesday (July 15).

Expected to be a blockbuster success in Ukraine, the film recounts the story of student Lyudmila Pavilchenko who was a legendary sniper during the Second World War with 309 shots to her credit and later became friends with the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

In an interview with Russia’s Ria-Novosti , producer Natalia Mokritskaya said that the film...

Aliya's blown away by the scale of this Russian WWII movie, but feels oddly distanced from it all the same...

Is being epic a genre distinction? Even before D.W. Griffith came along there were epic films out there, either historical or biblical, with great big heroes and towering sets. And every age of cinema has had its epic presentations: The Ten Commandments gave us the plagues of Egypt with Charlton Heston to part the Red Sea, David Lean presented us with an epic desert amongst other things, and Baz Luhrmann showed off an epic Australia. It’s all to do with the sweeping music, the majestic pan of the camera, the slow motion and the grand emotions.

Stalingrad has all of these things, and I get the feeling that it set out to put itself squarely in the epic genre. I watched it in 3D and it was an enormous experience,...

While such as The Coen Brothers have flirted with the influence of ancient epic poems, in O Brother Where Art Thou? and Inside Llewyn Davis, but it’s been a few years since Us producers did a full-scale film based on one of Homer’s works. (Troy, from 2004, adapted The Iliad.) Enter Fedor Bondarchuk, whose WWII […]

The post ‘Stalingrad’ Director Will Make ‘Odysseus’ for Warner Bros. appeared first on /Film.

The BBC One's series "Sherlock" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman is set to return with a special airing late 2015 and three new, 90-minute episodes arriving in 2016. The special will begin shooting January 2015 with the fourth season shooting later that year. Tina Fey and her company Little Stranger will reportedly produce Hocus Pocus 2, a sequel to the 1993 supernatural comedy that starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as three witch sisters resurrected on Halloween night, and two teenagers and an immortal cat seeking to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all. The Tracking Board Warner Bros. has hired Fedor Bondarchuk (Stalingrad) to direct Odysseus based on Homer's "The Odyssey" and has been in development since 2009 when Jonathan Liebesman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) was attached to direct. Deadline Olivia Munn (Deliver Us from Evil) is in talks to join the cast of...

The first big-budget Russian blockbuster, WWII epic Stalingrad, was an absolutely stunning visual experience, and when it became the highest-grossing film in Russian cinematic history, it seemed pretty clear that we hadn’t heard the last of its director, Fedor Bondarchuk. Now, it appears that Warner Bros. has recruited the helmer to direct its big-budget Greek epic Odysseus, which aims to turn the classic tale transcribed in Homer’s The Odyssey into an action-packed spectacle.

Bondarchuk, the son of Oscar-winning helmer Sergei Bondarchuk (who received the Best Foreign Film Oscar for his movie War and Peace back in 1968), made Stalingrad for around $30 million, and the flick went on to gross $66 million, setting records in Russia. It was also the first Russian movie to be shot in IMAX 3D. Despite Stalingrad featuring a huge amount of battle sequences, Bondarchuk kept the budget low by staging everything without the use of green screen or extensive special effects,...

High school students, rejoice: Homer’s epic poem Odyssey is becoming a movie. Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk has been hired by Warners Bros. to direct Odysseus, a “large-scale” film adaptation, Deadline reports.

The Odyssey follows the Greek epic hero Odysseus’ arduous journey home following the fall of Troy. The Killing’s Jeremy Doner will write the script, and Gianni Nunnari (300), Bernie Goldmann, and Shannon Gaulding will produce.

Bondarchuk’s last film, Stalingrad—about a group of Russian soldiers who must defend the city against the Nazis during World War II—was the top-grossing Russian film of 2013 and the first Russian...

Moscow -- Fyodor Bondarchuk,  director of Russia's highest grossing movie ever, Stalingrad, has been tapped to shoot his first Hollywood movie. Bondarchuk has been hired by Warner Bros. to direct Odysseus, an epic adventure based on Homer's poem of the return of a Greek king after the Trojan war. Photos Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films The movie, scripted by Jeremy Doner, is being producer by Gianni Nunnari (who produced Zack Snyder's 2006 epic of the battle of Thermopylae, 300) and Moscow-based producers Paul Heth and Michael Schlicht. Bondarchuk's all-action visual effects-rich 3D take on the WWII clash between Hitler's

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Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk and Warner Bros. are teaming up for a new project. Deadline has learned Bondarchuck has been hired by the studio to direct Odysseus, an adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. It's being described as a "large-scale film," meaning he'll have quite a bit more money to work with compared to the $30 million budget he had for Stalingrad. The Killing and Damages scribe Jeremy Doner will write the script for the...

Having already tackled "The Iliad" in "Troy," Warner Bros. Pictures is now moving onto Homer's more frequently adapted sequel "The Odyssey".

Russian filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk ("Stalingrad") has been hired to direct "Odysseus," a big budget and large scale epic based on the classic epic poem which Jeremy Doner will pen an adaptation of.

The story follows Odysseus and his famed journey home after the fall of Troy - a voyage that includes encountering a cyclops, the witch-goddess Circe, the Sirens, and the narrow passage between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis.

Gianni Nunnari, Bernie Goldmann, Shannon Gaulding, Michael Schlicht and Paul Heth will produce.

Source: Deadline...

Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk has signed on to direct Odysseus for Warner Bros., a large-scale epic adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey.

Jeremy Doner (The Killing) is writing the screenplay adaptation about the title character, the Greek king who starts his journey home after a decade of fighting in the Trojan War. Along his perilous trip home to Ithaca, Odysseus must battle cannibals, sea monsters, sirens and a cyclops, while his wife Penelope is being courted by a number of suitors in his absence.

Gianni Nunnari is producing through his Hollywood Gang production company, alongside Bernie Goldmann, Shannon Gaulding and Fedor Bondarchuk's producing partners Michael Schlicht and Paul Heth. No production schedule was given.

Warner Bros. previously adapted Homer's The Iliad, which covers the events of The Trojan War, into the 2004 adventure Troy, where Sean Bean played Odysseus. The Odyssey has been adapted for the big...

Exclusive: Warner Bros has hired Fedor Bondarchuk to direct Odysseus, the large-scale film based on Homer’s poem The Odyssey, about the Greek king who returns after a decade away fighting the Trojan War. Jeremy Doner is writing the script. Hollywood Gang’s Gianni Nunnari is producing with Bernie Goldmann and Shannon Gaulding, as well as Bondarchuk’s partners Michael Schlicht and Paul Heth. The film is a large-scale epic, and the Russian filmmaker’s work has been getting more and more ambitious. Bondarchuk, the son of Oscar-winning helmer Sergey Bondarchuk, is an actor, producer and on-air host who last fall directed Stalingrad, a […]...

A decade on from Wolfgang Petersen's Troy (adapted from The Iliad), Hollywood is finally getting around to Homer's other great epic, The Odyssey. Warner Bros. have set Stalingrad director Fedor Bondarchuk to work on Odysseus, the story of the titular Greek warrior-king-hero's return home from the Trojan War.300's Gianni Nunnari is among the producers, indicating that, to some extent, this is the same Odysseus that was developing as long as five years ago. There have been plenty of changes between then and now, however. Back in 2009, the screenplay was by Ann Peacock (The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe) and the thrust was not The Odyssey itself, but what happened to Odysseus after he got home to Ithaca.But the latest script is by Jeremy Doner (The Killing), indicating a new focus, and raising the possibility that we may see Odysseus dealing with Cyclops, sirens, Scylla and shipwrecks after all.

Stalingrad 3D’s producer-director Fyodor Bondarchuk has a Us major in his sights for the national and international distribution of the forthcoming Russian war film, Battalion Of Death, set during the First World War.

Speaking during a presentation of the first footage of Dmitry Meshiev’s drama about the women battalions formed in 1917 to fight on the Eastern front against the Germans, Bondarchuk said that negotiations were underway with “a big company” to handle distribution in a way “very similar to Stalingrad.”

The $30m war drama Stalingrad was released in Russian cinemas by Sony Pictures Releasing International on October 10, 2013 and posted the strongest opening weekend ever for a locally produced film with $14.3m from 1,400 screens. In total, the film took $52m (RUB1.75bn) at the Russian box office to become the top release of 2013 and was also a hit for Sony in China with takings of over $11.5m.

Bondarchuk, whose production company Art Pictures Studio co-produced Battalion...

Leading Russian actor-director-producer Fyodor Bondarchuk has indicated that he is prepared to bleep out the obscenities in Valeria Gai Germanika’s new film Yes And Yes (Da I Da) to ensure its Russian theatrical release.

Speaking at a press conference at the Moscow International Film Festival (Miff) this morning (June 25) ahead of the European premiere of Yes And Yes in the Main Competition, Bondarchuk said that he ¨hoped¨ to get a distribution certificate for the film tomorrow.

“I don’t know about the cursing, but we have agreed to put in bleeps if there is no other way [for the film to be released] if the new obscenity law applies to this film,” said Bondarchuk.

“We are still waiting for clarification about the situation for films made before when the law comes into effect on July 1. I will know more on Thursday.”

With extensive use of swearwords - especially in the opening scenes in the apartment of Bohemian artists - and bottles of vodka...

★★☆☆☆Five months, one week and three days; that's how long the battle of Stalingrad lasted. One of the bloodiest battles of WWII, the heavy losses incurred by the Wehrmacht made it one of the pivotal points of the conflict. In Fedor Bondarchuk's Stalingrad (2013), the epic scale of the battle has been recreated in stereoscopic vision, but instead of depicting the devastating human cost of the conflict, war is exhibited purely for the promotion of national pride. The film opens on a Russian rescue team hauling Germans from the rubble of Fukushima. You might ask yourself quite what this bizarre framing device has to do with the conflict on the banks of Volga river - the answer would be nothing at all.

Non Stop Productions, producer of Cannes winner Leviathan, is among nine “industry leaders” selected by the Russian Cinema Fund (Fond Kino) to take a share of $55m (RUB1.9bn).

Alexander Rodnyansky’s Non Stop Productions, producer of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes winner Leviathan, is among nine production companies selected as ¨industry leaders¨ for 2014 by the Russian Cinema Fund (Fond Kino) for the allocation of $55m (RUB1.9bn) to be distributed among them as subsidies or repayable loans.

Leviathan will be the closing film at the weekend for this week’s ‘Kinotavr’ Open Russia Film Festival in Sochi, and Non Stop is also represented by Konstantin Buslov’s second feature Adventurers as part of the open-air programme

The line-up of ¨leaders¨ also includes Igor Tolstunov’s company ProFIT, which has two films in Kinotavr’s main competition - Alexander Kott’s Test and Nigina Saifullayeva’s Whatayacallme -; Sergei Selyanov’s Ctb - in Sochi with the animation...

While American war movies are created every year, telling courageous stories of legendary heroes, we often lack an international perspective on other pivotal battles in military history. Hollywood has a specific audience and focus, so it’s always nice when foreign directors attempt their own patriotic swan songs – and the most recent example of this is Russia’s Stalingrad.

Director Fedor Bondarchuk attempted to do his Motherland proud by producing the first Russian film to be shot in 3D and IMAX 3D, and his efforts were rewarded with the highest grossing box-office numbers in the country’s history. Attempting to achieve success similar to Saving Private Ryan, Stalingrad captures the destructive horrors of war while weaving in emotional drama that unfolds as lovers untie – a balance of action and romance that mirrors blockbuster epics.

While the theatrical release for Stalingrad has come and gone, you can catch Bondarchuk’s harrowing...

Ahead of this week’s Nika Awards ceremony in Moscow, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin heard the plans by Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky to re-launch the film festival in Crimea’s Yalta and the festival for children’s cinema in the small resort town of Gurzuf.

Speaking to the Ria-Novosti agency after his meeting with Putin, Medinsky said he believed that both festivals could take place again this year and suggested that these events - as well as an international jazz festival in Koktebel - could help attract guests from all over Russia - and later on, from all over the world.

The meeting between Putin and Medinsky also centred on the proposal to reactivate the Yalta Film Studios on the peninsula as a centre for national production. In Soviet times, these studios had hosted such productions as Andrey Tarkovsky’s Solaris, Amphibian Man, Prisoner Of The Caucasus and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style.

Last...

Exclusive: Call for directors, producers and sales agents to give their films for free to festivals in troubled Ukraine.

Cannes’ Thierry Fremaux, the Berlinale’s Christoph Terhechte and Venice chief Alberto Barbera are among 92 people working at 60 festivals in 38 countries to have answered a call to show solidarity with their Ukrainian festival colleagues.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily, the initiative’s coordinator, Warsaw Film Festival director Stefan Laudyn, explained: “When we heard the news from Ukraine, after a quick email and SMS exchange with Sara [Norberg of Helsinki Iff ¨Love & Anarchy¨], Tiina [Lokk of Black Nights F], Tudor [Giurgiu of Tiff/Cluj] and the Stefans [Uhrik and Kitanov of Febiofest and Sofia Iff], we decided to prepare a letter of support and sent it to our friends at film festivals worldwide.”

In the letter, the six festival chiefs called on directors, producers and sales agents to give their films “willingly and for free to all film festivals in Ukraine” and also not to charge any screening fees from Ukrainian festivals this year.

In addition, they asked national...

As Deadline reported last Friday, Paradigm has confirmed that agents Adam Kanter and Martin Spencer have joined the agency after their abrupt exits from Resolution. Word had raced last week that this was happening, as the two agents did not want to take paycuts from their low-seven-figure salaries. The two joined Jeff Berg last year shortly after he left ICM to launch Resolution, and those agents came from CAA. At Paradigm, they should feel right at home alongside former CAA cohorts Bob Bookman, Ken Stovitz, Rand Holston and most recently Manny Nunez. Related: Resolution Agents Martin Spencer, Adam Kanter Exiting; Paradigm Next Stop? So now, the big question is which clients will join them in the move. Here are the ones I’m hearing are most likely to make the jump to Paradigm: Stuart Beattie, Stalingrad helmer Fedor Bondarchuk, Joe Johnston, Mark Steven Johnson, Malcolm Lee, Rob Minkoff, Evan and Shea Mirzai,...

If you thought Saving Private Ryan needed to be more like 300, then Stalingrad is the movie for you. In Fedor Bondarchuk’s ginormous look at the struggle for this Russian city — one of the bloodiest, most-drawn-out battles of World War II, with nearly 2 million casualties — the human cost of war is constantly upstaged by slo-mo happy, arena-size spectacle. This is the first Russian movie shot entirely in 3-D, which makes sense — the battle for Stalingrad is practically a national creation myth. But while the imagery in this retelling is impeccable, the story is strangely lifeless.Rather than recounting the whole siege, which took nearly half a year, Bondarchuk’s film focuses on a small group of Russian soldiers who hide out in a bombed-out abandoned apartment building, with the only civilian among them Katya (Mariya Smolnikova), a teenage girl whose whole family has been killed along with all the other inhabitants.

As the lights of Sochi fade and our Olympic athletes make their way home, there's a little piece of Russia's cinematic legacy that has made the journey along with them.

Opening in limited release is Fedor Bondarchuk's "Stalingrad," a $30 million war epic being released in North America by Sony Pictures. Here's a primer on the film, which looks closely at The Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

What is the film about?

The Battle of Stalingrad, a story already told in countless books and films, is one of the defining and most brutal battles of the Second World War. With a mix of hubris from the German side, and unabashed attrition from the Russians, this was a seven-month campaign that left more than 1.5 million people dead, yet was critical to breaking the back of the German Army and paving the way for their eventual defeat.

So, what does Bondarchuk do differently?...

This weekend is a box office wild card.

Liam Neeson is an earnings force unto himself, and his latest turn as an air marshal on a hijacked transatlantic flight in Non-Stop should evict The Lego Movie from its three-weekend stronghold on the No. 1 spot. But the big, looming unknown is Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s Son of God. Its weekend prospects have analysts stumped, with estimates ranging anywhere from $12 million to $30 million. And even the high end of that could be wildly off.

With that said, here’s how things might play out. And, to change things up a bit,...

Fyodor Bondarchuk’s father Sergei made the 1967 War And Peace, a famously profligate Soviet production with thousands of army soldiers as extras and the biggest budget in the Ussr’s history. His son came up through music videos and advertisements, making a splash with 2005’s Afghan War drama The 9th Company. The lavish Stalingrad was shot in two parts, as much as possible in 3D; if nothing else, it’ll go down in a sub-section of film history as Russia’s first IMAX film. It’s a tremendously odd film, the kind of overtly nationalistic take on the WWII battle you’d expect from an […]...