The widow of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko fought back tears as she spoke about her husband’s pride in a film which is having its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Popularity: 4% [?]
May 26, 2007Alexander Litvinenko, 43, died in November last year after being poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium 210.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Russian pop duo tATu will star in a movie biopic, directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields, The Mission, Super Mario Bros).
Popularity: 100% [?]
April 12, 2007Those who appreciate films that are weird and wonderful, or just long and mostly silent, will be happy to learn that U.S. artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney is participating in the Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.
Popularity: 2% [?]
February 22, 2007British musicians Ian Brown and Brett Anderson are not the type of people who Russian filmmakers typically approach to do their movie soundtracks.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Russia’s government agency for culture and cinematography refuted earlier reports alleging it had effectively banned distribution of Baron Cohen’s controversial comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan from theaters across Russia, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 9, 2006Russia has banned the hit comedy film, Borat, which has been accused of poking fun at Moscow’s neighbour and close ally Kazakhstan, BBC reported.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Celebrated Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk’s efforts to bring the prize-winning novel “And Quiet Flows the Don†to the big screen in the early 1990s fell apart after the Soviet collapse. More than a decade later, his work is finally about to see the light of day, after being completed by the director’s son Fyodor, a well-known Russian director in his own right.
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 7, 2006Swedish wildlife filmmaker Erik Fernstrom was in Russia shooting a film when he was attacked by a bear. The incident occurred during the production this summer of a film called “The true face of the bearâ€, The Local online daily reports.
Fernstrom’s film is based on scientific research about the logic behind bears’ behavior. Armed with this knowledge he knew how to react when a brown bear suddenly turned on him and his crew.
“Nine out of ten times brown bears attack just to scare you. We just stood our ground,†he told the paper.
“Of course I was scared. But the bear will only attack if he is wounded or protecting his prey. He kept coming at us. He was pushing the limits. But so were we. He came to within 5-10 meters of us.â€
Fernstrom also described how bears often follow in the tracks of berry and mushroom pickers just to have a look at what is going on.
“They get quite close. They are curious about who you are,†he said.
But they rarely show themselves. Attacks are infrequent and casualties rare. But a wounded bear will not hesitate to strike.
“A hunter in the north of Sweden was killed by a brown bear a couple of years ago. The hunter’s dogs scared the bear out of its den. It seems that the man then wounded the bear and was attacked and killed.
â€The story has been in the news recently because the man’s family have tried to get compensation from the state. Apparently you can get compensation for a dog that has been injured or killed by a bear. But you can’t get compensation for a family member,“ Fernstrom said.
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 27, 2006“Playing the Victim†by Kirill Serebrennikov, a critically acclaimed theater director in his native Russia, was named best film among the 16 movies in competition. They were mostly art-house titles by new directors.
Serebrennikov’s film is a family drama centered on a young student who uncovers the mystery surrounding his father’s death.
The jury also gave a special prize to “This is England,†British director Shane Meadows’ story of a 12-year-old boy befriending a group of skinheads in the early 1980s.
In different ways, both films explore the confusion and disillusionment of younger generations. They were chosen by a 50-member jury made up of ordinary film-goers and supervised by Italian director Ettore Scola.
“Neither of these two very beautiful films is commercial but I hope both will reach the big audiences,†Scola said at the award ceremony.
Serebrennikov said his film — adapted from a play by the Presnyakov brothers — was a film “for Russia and for Russians.â€
“We still believe that cinema can change people’s way of thinking and their consciences,†he said.
“I think my film is an artistic portrayal of what is passing through the minds of people in Russia today: terror, hope, insecurity.â€
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 24, 2006
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