13th ‘Sputnik’ Russian Film Festival will take place at Warsaw cinemas Luna, Elektronik and Iluzjon from 21st of November till 1st of December.
In Feature Films Competition we will feature ‘The Man Who Surprised Everyone’ by Natasha Merkulova and Alexey Chupov which was presented in Venice this year, ‘Once Upon a Time in Trubchevsk’ which premiered in the Cannes,‘Acid’ by Alexander Gorchilin and ‘A Russian Youth’ by Alexander Zolotuhin which were shown on Berlinale. In the Main Competition we will show ‘The Bull’ by Boris Akopov which won this year’s Kinotavr Grand Prix, ‘Van Goghs’ by Sergey Livnev, which features Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski and ‘The Great Poetry’ by Alexander Lungin.
An important place in programme is given to Documentary Competition. ‘The Case of Sobchak’ by Vera Krichevskaya makes a close-up on well-known Russian politician, lawyer, the major of St. Petersburg and a mentor of Vladimir Putin. The portaried of Anatoly Sobchak is painted with the help of his daughter Ksenia, wife Liudmila, Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin and children of Boris Yelcin. We will also present a Polish-Russian-Finnish co-production „Fateich and the Sea” with one of the members of our jury – Krysian Matysek – as the film’s DoP.
Retrospective of Pavel Lungin, who will also be our honoured guest this year, includes ‘The Isle’, ‘Luna Park’, ‘Taxi Blues’, ‘The Oligarch’ and ‘Car’.
A few titles from ‘Kaleidoscope of New Cinema’: ‘Let’s Get Divorced!’ by Anna Parmas which have already won the hearts of Russian viewers, biographic drama ‘A Dance with the Swords’ by Yusup Razykov and ‘The End of the Season’, a modern adaptation of Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’ by Kontantin Hodiakov.
‘Sputnik’ flies over Yakutia, too, giving a space for promising young cinema from that region. We will present Lubov Borisova’s ‘Yakutia. Where the Sun Never Sets Down’ which won Audience’s Prize during this year Moscow International Film Festival.
Together with Russian Film Festival in Vyborg we will present to Warsaw audience ‘7 Boozers’, Russian version of Western by Sergey Kuznecov and drama ‘Your Honour’ by Andres Puustusmaa.
In ‘4C – Curious Cinema for Competent Cinemaholics’ section ‘Sputnik’ will show the films for the true lovers of camp aesthetics, weird actors’ game and fascinating imaginations of the creators of Soviet sci-fi. Please welcome ‘The Star Inspector’, ‘Rainbow’s Formula’ and an incomparable Soviet interpretation of ‘Hobbit’ by J.R.R. Tolkien.
‘The Manifests’ will show us the many faces of Russia: subcultures and law of the streets, as well as Russia’s grey economy. In ‘Director’s Cut’ we will present the best films of all the Sputniks of these 13 year, and ‘Shortly’ will get your covered with All-Russian Film School students’ work. Oh, and there’s the ‘Night of Horrors’ for the lovers of horrors.
‘Sputnik’ shows not only films! We’re waiting for you at our side event — photography exhibition ‘The Arctics’, the works for which were creating during the filming of ‘The Great Northern Road’.
13th ‘Little Sputnik’ will present the newest Russian animations and feature films created for both children and teenagers. ‘Urfin Jus Comes Back’, ‘Abigail’ or ‘Domovoy’? It’s up to you, as well as the floral, cardboard and animation workshops.