Long Cinema 2.0

Film critic Timur Aliyev - about how Russian cinema is not shown in Russia

Since the 1930s of the last century, in the USSR there were "shelf cinema". So the film experts called films ready for showing, which were never presented to a wide audience due to censorship. After 90 years, the history of cinema in Russia made a full revolution: for various political reasons, films and TV shows are not again released in cinemas and on streaming platforms. At the request of the “cold”, film critic Timur Aliyev collected films that did not go and lay on the shelf, and tries to figure out what the film industry awaits in Russia.

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"Captain Volkonovov fled" and 1938

Directors: Natasha Merkulova, Alexey Chupov
Exit year: 2021

“Someone Pole or German, which means, without five minutes a spy. Well, someone just does not love their homeland. This is very dangerous, ”the NKVD’s ideology explains to Captain Volkonov (the hero did not utter the abbreviation, but the reference is more than obvious) his boss in the film about the Chekist, who in 1938 was looking for atonements from his victims.

This cinema Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chupova and Yura Borisov in the title role struck both the foreign and the Russian press after the world premiere in Venice and on the last Kinotavr in September 2021. After that, the industry only said how lucky the company and the online cinema will show the film on the big screen and buy exclusive digital rights.

In October 2021, Central Partnership announced that she would release the film. The distributor from the Gazprom-Media holding announced the release date-April 7. But in March 2022, the film disappeared from the release schedule. Evgeny Nikishov, one of the producers of the project, said : “We now do not see rolling prospects for such films,” noting that the rental has been postponed to the fall. However, with the onset of autumn, the foliage flew away: the CPSH specified the cold that the “captain of Volkonovo” was no longer in the company's rolling plans. In principle, the expected decision of the holding, which exhibits the letter Z on social networks.

The only city of Russia where the film was shown for ordinary spectators is Moscow: the residents of the capital were able to watch the film in Garage Screen and at the festival for the birthday of the Cinema "Artistic" . The copyright holders of the film are the company "Place of Power" Valery Fedorovich and Evgeny Nikishov and Lookfilm Boris Khlebnikov and Alexander Plotnikov. All producers refused to give official comments about the fate of the picture.

"Simple -Men" and Chulpan Khamatova

Director: Yana Klimova-Yusupova
Exit year: 2022

A more dramatic, if not fantastic, story happened with the debut full-length film by Yana Klimova-Yusupova “Simple-Member”. This is a touching movie about the search by the main character performed by Philip Avdeev, his own mother is played by Chulpan Khamatova, who once left her son in the hospital, writing a refusal.

The Russian premiere took place at the closure of the Gorky Fest film festival in Nizhny Novgorod without any problems. Although it is quite unusual to show a movie with Khamatova, which for departure from Russia stigered the traitor indignant Z-publicity, at the festival, the president of which is actor Mikhail Porechenkov, an ardent supporter of the war, who visited the Donbass in 2014.

The film also had a “White Nights” distributor (part of the Gazprom-Media holding). The picture was planned to be released on August 25, but a few days before the release the film disappeared from the schedule. As usual, without official comments of the distributor.

Another “miracle” is the Moscow premiere of the picture in the section “Russian Cinema Program”, which is held annually as part of the Moscow Film Festival. On the one hand, the President of the MMKF Nikita Mikhalkov, who opposes the film on August 26 in Russia, in which the artists who left Russia withdrew. On the other hand, the open screening of the “simple man” in the parallel section of the festival on August 28, which gathered a full hall. The revolution right under the nose of Nikita Sergeyevich - in the building of the Cinema House is the Union of Cinematographers, the chairman of which is Mikhalkov.

The situation around the film was commented by the “cold” by his director Yana Klimova-Yusupova: “We really did not go on rental on August 25. I have no reason to multiply rumors and breed drama. I understand all the positions, I realize that we are in difficult times, and respect all people and their feelings. The film is very valuable right now because of his script, plot and thoughts that are born after watching. I would very much like art to come forward, and resentment remained in the past. I am sure that we will get to a wide viewer sooner or later. I hope it's too early. ”

The prospects for the rental of the film in White Nights are not officially commented on. One of the employees of the Gazprom-Media holding in a conversation with the Cold, on the terms of anonymity, quoted Viktor Tsoi: “I will answer shortly-we are waiting for changes.” According to another representative of the film company, who asked not to call his name, there is no specific reason for the cancellation of the rental of a “simple man”: “We need to wait out when we stop calling from above and everything will subside.” After Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, the film was shown only in Nizhny Tagil - at the festival of films and television programs about work, art, philanthropy “Demidoff”. Whether the cinema with Philip Avdeev and Chulpan Khamatova will see a wide audience is still unknown.

"Empire V" and Oximiron

Director: Victor Ginzburg
Release year: It is unknown

The story of the third full -length film of Viktor Ginzburg, it would seem, is prosaic - one of the main actors of the picture, rapper Oximiron, left Russia after February 24 and made anti -war statements. But the problems of the picture began a little earlier.

The project was declared in 2011, but for a very long time was looking for funding. Producers went to state and private funds, and in 2015 Ginzburg organized a two -year crowdfunding on the planet. In 2018, a few months before the announced premiere, Bablos cryptocurrency was organized: the producers hoped to attract 200 million rubles (they managed to collect about 115 million rubles).

In the fall of 2021, problems began with the Film Fund, which through the court demanded a refund: earlier, in 2017, they allocated 70 million rubles to the film (a subsidy with a return under specific terms for the delivery of the project). Considering that the film did not come out at that time, the conditions were broken.

After eight years of production, the search for money and the post -production, Empire V found a Russian distributor in the person of Sony Pictures. In November 2021, the release date appeared - on March 31, 2022, but the Hollywood major suspended activities in Russia, and the Ampir V crossed the Volga company. A week before the release, the distributor said that the film would not be released on March 31. The Ministry of Culture did not agree with the age rating (at that time 16+) and refused to issue a rental certificate.

Prior to the rental, Volga traditionally showed the film to reporters - some publications, despite the not -ows of the picture, posted the reviews of film critics. According to the Channel One film expert, Ekaterina Mcturidze, the film, “Most likely, will be released in Russian rental in the fall”: the producers “went towards [the Ministry of Culture] and agreed to change the status of the film from 16+ to 18+”. Publicly, no one talks about the connection of the cancellation of the rental with the participation of Oximiron, but such an opinion is present in the industry.

“In the current situation, unfortunately, no one will allow us to show a movie based on the book of Pelevin, because it does not coincide with the wishes of censorship,” said the producer of the film Ivan Zasursky. Director Victor Ginzburg noted the Cold that the adaptation of Roman Pelevin is “Cinema for all times”. “We have everything in the process. There is a hope that the film will still be released, but I do not know when. We assume that, lying on a shelf, he ripens like good wine, ”the director concluded optimistically.

"Tchaikovsky's wife" and dissidentity

Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Exit year: 2022

The last work of the director Kirill Serebrennikov “wife of Tchaikovsky” joint production of Russia, France and Switzerland, Russians may also not see within the country.

The large -scale biographical canvas about the marriage of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the life of his wife, Antonina Ivanovna Milyukova, fell into the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival. The director himself went to France at the end of March - the day after the abolition of his sentence under an article on fraud on an especially large scale and removing a criminal record. Since then, attention has often focused on its political fate in the foreign press: in most news and materials, Dissident is attributed to Director, reminding his anti -war position. In the large -scale profile of The New York Times, the position of the director in Russia and the world as "stuck between Moscow and Hollywood" is analyzed in detail.

Unlike the “Captain Volkonogov” and “The Simpless”, “Tchaikovsky’s wife” was less fortunate: the Hype Film film company, responsible for production, has not yet agreed to release the film with any of the Russian distributors. There was no festival premiere within the country. The director refused to talk with the "cold" about the fate of the film. Now he is busy with the work on the new ribbon “Lemons, the ballad about Oedica” - the adaptation of the book “Limons” by Emmanuel Carrera, in which Ben Wishaw plays the main role. Filming of the project ended in Riga in early September.

The rental of Tchaikovsky’s wife is scheduled in 2023, but exclusively in Europe. Hype Film producers also refused to comment: Ilya Stuart, in particular, is busy building a new Hype Studios film company in Europe. Probably, the Russian market in the new reality is no longer a priority for HYPE producers.

"I'm going to play" and death groups

Director: Anna Zaitseva
Exit year: 2021

Anna Zaitseva’s full-length gaming debut “I go to play” could already go into Russian rental twice, but each time something interfered with the innovative screenshurrier. The joint project of the Bazelevs studio (Timur Bekmambetov) and MTS Media (Igor Mishin) “I go to play” without any restrictions was presented at foreign film festivals last year - called #blue_whale (“Blue Kit”). The world premiere took place at the festival "Fantasy" in Canada. The film was also shown in Europe and the USA.

Positive articles about the film in the foreign press spurred Russian rental, which was planned on October 7, 2021. The company “Our Cinema” acted as a miracle, but the miracle did not happen: at first the release date of the film (then it was called “#I wantvigrus”) moved to November 18, and a week before the premiere of the picture became interested in the safe Internet League Ekaterina Mizulina.

The special demonstration of the film was attended by “representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Investigative Committee, the Presidential Administration and the FSB, as well as psychologists who are engaged in child psychology and the psychology of deviations and deviations.” As a result, it was decided to move the picture of death groups: individual scenes and finals were subjected to change, according to Igor Mishin.

On August 28, director Anna Zaitseva wrote on Instagram: “They asked me a lot when the movie is released, I still do not know the answer to this question. There will be one show at the MMKF. ” After almost a year, the Russian premiere took place in the out -of -competition program "Wild Nights". The timing of the film at the MMKF compared to the catalogs of international festivals, where it was presented earlier, changed slightly (94 minutes against 92) - either the change was cosmetic, or the author managed to defend the original version.

Now the project has changed the name - from "#I wantvigri" to "I'm going to play." Producers plan to show it to a wide audience both at the box office and on the platform. Here is what Anna Zaitseva told the cold: “We have a Russian distributor and access to the Kion online platform. I hope that after the premiere at the MMKF, everyone relaxed a little. Now I just want the work of the team that spent several years of life on the film to see a large audience. At the moment, no one officially refuses the release. ”

Bazelevs refused to comment related to the transfer of release and change. The film is in the plans of the Kion online cinema, but the exact release date is unknown.

"Power" and war

Director: Alexey Krasovsky
Exit year: 2022

The miniature series “Power” directed by Alexei Krasovsky, a detective thriller about the abduction of a group of girls and blackmail of their relatives, was supposed to be released on March 3, 2022. The project exclusively said the OKKO online cinema (was a member of the Sberbank ecosystem, but changed the owner after the bank fell under sanctions). It would seem that for Russian streaming they also removed more rigid content (“Call-Center” by Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chupov), and more socially oriented (“crystal” Dushan Gligorov), so the subject and approach were unlikely to embarrass any of the producers of the platform.

The teaser for a ten-part project with a small timing (a series of 20 minutes) appeared on the OKKO YouTube channel on February 18. Now it will not work to find in the public domain: it is hidden from excess eyes in the "access on the link." Like many exclusive series of other streaming, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, “Power”, apparently, was adopted. True, unlike other Okko projects, without a specific date.

Okko returned to the usual mode in the spring: in March, he released the second season of Chikatilo Sarik Andreasyan, in April - “offline” with Nikita Efremov. But the “authorities”, it seems, simply forgot. Meanwhile, director Alexei Krasovsky, after February 24, left for Turkey, from where he very directly and unequivocally formulated his anti -war position on a few air in Clubhouse.

Desperate to wait for the official release on Okko and the comments of the platform, Krasovsky began to upload the project Vskynino on the personal YouTube channel . The director is not used to it: four years ago, his full -length film “Holiday” about the life of the family at a special position in the besieged Leningrad provoked a scandal and lost the opportunity to release on a large screen, as a result of which the filmmaker posted the film in YouTube after the New Year.
Whether with such behavior and views of the filmmaker “power” on Okko will appear a question that does not need an official answer: everyone understands everyone. “About the premiere [of the series] do not ask OKKO. I think not before the end of the war. Or never, ”Krasovsky wrote in his telegram channel.

What will happen next?

Nothing good. These are only the most indicative examples (itself) censorship - both for the Russian audience and for domestic filmmakers. Many directors and screenwriters remain in Russia, turn to finance gaming and documentaries to the Ministry of Culture and the Film Foundation, hoping to make an “honest” movie.

Perhaps observing the next change in the notorious “Red Line”, filmmakers will translate and adjust the scenario applications of future projects, which an ordinary viewer will see in a couple of years - not quite in a beautiful Russia of the future. But current films and TV shows are likely to run to go to the “shelf”. Because not the time, not the place, not that artist and not that country.

A separate line about online cinemas. It seems that only on streaming there is a desired freedom for everyone: take off bold, provocatively, truly-everything is possible here. But in fact, many streaming are state structures. The experience of recent months shows that luck can even summarize the truly talented projects: from the Premier series, “grieces”, for example, first cut out a joke about the “International Pyloram” show Tigran Keosayan, and then completely removed all the series from the platform. “Not the time for acute satire,” said Sofya Mitrofanova, Director General of the online cinema.

However, notorious madmen still exist in the good sense of the word. The producer duet - Valery Fedorovich and Evgeny Nikishov (the company "Place of Power") - in September began shooting the series "Transformer". No, this is not a Russian answer to the Hollywood franchise, but a drama about the police captain, who in his free time performs in the club as travek artist Trixie Flawers. Not a joke: the series after the premiere of the first episode at the Pilot festival in Ivanovo was really launched. Whether one of the streaming or television channels is submitted to such a series in Russia, one can only guess. Or hoping, because hope is the only thing that remains people who make cinema and TV shows in new Russia. In reality, travek artists receive , for example, fines for the execution of the Russian anthem in a gay club, and the genre as a whole is still underground.

The time of opportunities in Russian cinema has long ended. Harding is not an option.