SPOTLIGHT ON UPCOMING RUSSIAN FILMS: PERIOD SET HITROVKA: THE SIGN OF FOUR, MASTER AND MARGARITA, WW2 MOVIE AIR, AND ADVENTURE MOVIE LORD OF THE WIND

 UPCOMING RUSSIAN FILMS 

HITROVKA: THE SIGN OF FOUR

I have a number of upcoming Russian films to present to you, so I thought I'd put them all in a nice little spotlight, beginning with HITROVKA: THE SIGN OF

Hitrovka is out in cinemas May 18th

FOUR (Хитровка. Знак четырёх) which should be out May 18th. Moscow, 1902. The famous director Konstantin Stanislavsky (Konstantin Kryukov), in search of inspiration for staging a new play, decides to get acquainted with the life of the city "bottom". He turns to Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a recognized expert on the Moscow slums, for help. Together they go to the legendary bandit Hitrovka and find themselves embroiled in the investigation of the murder of a mysterious local resident - an Indian Sikh with a dark past. You can check out a rather beautiful trailer below:

 

 

MASTER AND MARGARITA

The adaptation of Bulgakov's famous novel switched its title from Voland to MASTER AND MARGARITA  (Мастер и Маргарита) and should arrive

Master and Margarita will arrive soon

sometime this year. Moscow, 1930s. A famous writer (August Dil) on the rise of his career suddenly finds himself at the center of a literary scandal. The performance based on his play is removed from the repertoire, colleagues defiantly avoid meeting, in a matter of days he turns into an outcast. Shortly thereafter, he meets Margarita (Yuliya Snigir), who becomes his lover and muse. Inspired by her love and support, the writer takes on a new novel in which the characters are people from his environment, and the main character is the mysterious Voland, the prototype of which is a recent acquaintance of a foreigner. The writer plunges headlong into the world of his novel and gradually ceases to notice how fiction and reality are intertwined into one.

 

 

WORLD WAR II MOVIE AIR

The Second World War movie AIR (Воздух) is currently in post production. Heavy fighting is going on in the USSR, the German army is advancing. A unit

Air movie is in post production currently

of female pilots arrives in a mixed aviation regiment. All of them are young and do not quite understand what war is. Many are not yet accustomed to them, just as they are not accustomed to war in general. Girls have a hard time in the male world, but they prove day by day that they are no worse than men. Zhenya (Anastasiya Talizina) is a talented pilot with a difficult fate, who has experienced a lot, learned not to become attached to people, so that later she would not suffer from the pain of loss. She is afraid of her feelings and tries to restrain them. The only thing Zhenya wants is to fly well and defeat the enemy. She would like to merge with the air, with the wind, with the plane into one. In a series of air battles, the girls are fighting better and better. But many in the regiment are dying. Friendship and love are difficult for Zhenya; in the sky, in battle, she feels more in her place. Soon she becomes the regiment's best pilot, although there are fewer and fewer survivors around her. Zhenya grows up and prepares to enter her last battle. Anton Shagin, Sergei Bezrukov also star.

 

LORD OF THE WIND

The story of Fyodor Konyukhov's round-the-world balloon flight. He completed it in 2016 in 11 days and set a world record. LORD OF THE WIND (Повелитель ветра), out October, follows famous Russian traveler

Lord of the Air arrives this October

Konyukhov (Fedor Bondarchuk), who has conquered the earth's poles, oceans and the highest peaks, and now sets off on a new, most dangerous journey. He will have to circumnavigate the Earth in a balloon all alone. The flight is prepared by a whole team, but it is impossible to foresee all the dangers that await the traveler in extreme conditions. Konyukhov falls into a hurricane - without communication, without sleep, almost without air, he has to go only forward in order to return to those he loves. And the whole world, with bated breath, is watching the man who challenged the elements.

 

SPOTLIGHT ON 2020 RUSSIAN FILMS: WILDLY OPULENT FAIRY TALE UPON THE MAGIC ROADS AND INSANELY GORGEOUS EPIC PERIOD SET LOVE STORY SILVER SKATES

   'UPON THE MAGIC ROADS'

TALE OF A HUMPBACKED HORSE

Throughout this week your trusted spy has been introducing you to what is left of Russian cinematic releases for the rest of 2020 and we are

The film was supposed to open this October

crowning the spotlight today with two of our most anticipated movies from their production, if not from the whole worldwide offer this year. This winter was generally planned as the most massive cinematic holiday season ever in Russia with the releases of the long awaited expensive blockbusters The Goalkeeper of Galaxy (come back tomorrow), Project Gemini, The Silver Skates (see below) and Last Knight: The Root of Evil, but I'm not sure if they are still sticking to the plan due to corona. A film that could join them as it will probably get pushed to winter or maybe even to the next year UPON THE MAGIC ROADS was originally supposed to rob their box offices this Autumn. The wildly opulent big screen adaptation

Anton Shagin plays the hero Ivan the Fool

of Russia's most famous traditional fairy tale Конёк горбунок aka The Humpbacked Horse still does not have a trailer nor a poster, but your spy

As you can see the film will be filled with wildly rich costumes

has managed to find mind blowing first photos from it for you and they promise a feast for the eyes in the vein of Disney's Nutcracker and Mirror

You can also expect rich fairy tale sets, cities, palaces, villages

Mirror. Directed by Oleg Pogodin it will have Anton Shagin (as Ivan The Fool), Pavel Derevyanko (as the voice of Konyek Gorbunok), Paulina

The film was shot in summer 2018 and is in postproduction

Andreeva (as the princess), Mikhail Yefremov (as the Tzar), Yan Tsapnik, Oleg Taktarov, Lyasan Utiasheva (as the voice of the legendary Firebird),

The costumes are inspired by Russia's extremely rich folklore

Aleksandr Semchev in the cast. If you are familiar with one of the most beloved fairy tales of the whole Slavic world, you know that it follows the

The movie still does not have a new release date

adventures of legendary Ivan the Fool and his noble assistant - Humpbacked Horse. The shooting of the film finished in 2018 and since then the movie has been in complex postproduction.

Ivan The Fool And His Horse  
Once upon a time there lived Ivan, a little slob, but not a fool at all, though the youngest of three brothers. He once rescued a magic mare and received as a reward a friend and a faithful companion - the Little Humpbacked Horse.

The production included an insane number of extras and actors

Not simple, but also magical - small and almost fearless. And now Ivan, having such a horse, has all the luck of the world in his hands. But the tzar, who has Ivan in his service, sees his fortune as a bone in his own throat. Therefore, he

At one point Ivan will visit the ice palace of the far way tzarina

gives Ivan impossible tasks - either to catch the Firebird, then to release the  wondrous Fish-Whale from captivity, then to marry the beautiful tzarina who

The far away kingdom in which Ivan ends in his adventures

lives on the edge of the earth in ice mansions. But having met the overseas beauty, Vanya will not remain the same. He fell in love with the beauty, although he knows that this love could get his head off his shoulders...

   'SILVER SKATES'

RUSSIA'S MOST ANTICIPATED EPIC BIG SCREEN ROMANCE

Silver Skates should arrive this December

Another lavish spectacle that has been planned for a December release has also been in works for a very long time, but having in mind its insane opulence, rich fairy tale sets, enchantingly gorgeous costumes and beautiful songs written especially for the film, I think it will be worth all the wait: SILVER SKATES also known as  Serebryanye konki will mesmerise you as soon as you check out the first trailer below. Directed by Michael Lockshin it stars our gorgeous favourite Kirill Zaytsev alongside Sonia Priss, Fedor Fedotov and Yuri Kolokolnikov

Matvey and Alice fall unexpectedly in love while skating

as the Great Prince. Check out the enchanting trailer below and tell us what you think.

  The Winter Of Love & Drama
The 20th century is just around the corner. In winter, St. Petersburg transforms into a fairytale-like wonderland where frozen rivers and canals

Our gorgeous Kirill Zaytsev also stars in the movie

bustle with festivity. The city is home to 18-year-old Matvey who works as a delivery boy at a famous local bakery. The son of a poor lamplighter, his only

You can expect lavish costumes in the movie

treasure is a pair of silver-plated skates he inherited from his father. Meanwhile, a high-ranking official's daughter Alisa is feeling like a prisoner in

The film will have tons of winter wonderland scene settings

her father's mansion after being offered to become the wife of the Grand Prince. One day their paths cross. Each has its own difficult story, but once faced, they rush to a dream together.