Preface to the catalogue

1276 VSYO BUDET KHOROSHO (EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE)

1995, 112 min., color, ”Nikola-film”, “Fora-film”, “Lenfilm”, Roskomkino

Melodrama

Director: Dmitry Astrakhan, screenplay: Oleg Danilov, camera: Yuri Vorontsov, production designer: Sergei Kokovkin, misic: Alexander Pantykin, sound: Nikolai Astakhov, Mikhail Viktorov

Cast: Alexander Zbruyev, Olga Ponizova, Valentin Bukin, Andrei Zhuravlov, Mikhail Ulyanov, Irina Mazurkevich

One day a millionaire Konstantin Smirnov, who is neither a slob nor a gangster but simply a good person, returns to a remote Russian provincial town together with his son Petya who is not a snob thinking too much of himself but simply the youngest in the world winner of Nobel prize. Why does he do it? To reunite with his friends and relatives, and instead of harassing people and destroying things — to build the magic Disneyland in his native town and find his long awaited love.

• 
  The film was awarded the Main Prize of the International Festival of Love Story Films in Varna, Bulgaria.
  

1277 DEREVYANNAYA KOMNATA (WOODEN ROOM)

1995, 65 min., b/w, ”Mzhalala-Film”

Phantasmagoria

Director: Yevgeny Yufit, screenplay: Vladimir Maslov, Yevgeny Yufit, camera: Roman Lugovskoy, production designer: Yevgeny Yufit, sound: Mikhail Podtakuy

Cast: Tatyana Verkhovskaya, Vladimir Maslov, Igor Bezrukov, Sergei Tsvetkov

The film deals with problems of ecology and environmental protection. The lead character of the film is making documentary films and is obsessed with recording of certain marginal phenomena of life around him. Coming to the phenomena closer and closer with his camera lens he involuntary becomes their participant and victim.

1278 DUKHOVNYE GOLOSA (SPIRITUAL VOICES)

1995, 326 min., 5 parts (1st — 38 min., 2nd — 33 min., 3rd — 87 min., 4th — 77 min., 5th — 92 min), color, video, “Severny Fond”, “Eskomkino” (Syktyvkar), “Lenfilm”, “Pandora” (Japan), Roskomkino

War documentary

Written and directed by: Alexander Sokurov, camera: Alexander Burov, Alexei Fedorov, production designer, misic: Toru Takemitsu, sound: Sergei Moshkov

From war diaries.

“Mozart, Messian, Beethoven, uninhabited North of Russia and bloody war in Tajikistan. Harmony and chaos, classics and modernism, death and a final revelation of the sense of life, beauty growing out of ugly clots of matter.

Faces and bodies of soldiers left at the end of the Universe, spiritual voices piercing the thickness of darkness — these are the dominant themes of the film shot in extreme circumstances of war” (“Seance” magazine No. 11)

The first non-feature motion picture made in circumstances of modern war, sometimes directly during the actions. Alexander Sokurov for the first time used video camera because the use of a film camera and film shooting equipment for shooting scenes from life of the 11th post of Moscow detachment of Russian Border service in Tajikistan was determined by the situation as well as by financial problems.

• 
  The film was awarded the “Sony” Prize at the International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland.
  

1279 ZIMNYAYA VISHNYA (WINTER CHERRY)

1995, 58 min., color, video, ”Troitsky Most”, ”Peterburg-Pyaty kanal”

Melodrama

Director: Igor Maslennikov, screenplay: Vladimir Valutsky, camera: Valery Mulgaut, production designer: Natalya Kochergina, misic: Vladimir Dashkevich, sound: Galina Lukina

Cast: Yelena Safonova, Larisa Udovichenko, Nina Ruslanova, Vitaly Solomin, Irina Miroshnichenko, Olga Samoshina, Irina Klimova, Yelena Yunger, Viktor Avilov, Alexander Lenkov, Pyotr Velyaminov, Antonina Shuranova, Vladimir Yeremin, Tanya Bugayeva, Samuel Labart

Two earlier made films “Winter Cherry-1” and “Winter Cherry-2” reedited, additional shooting made with the use of videocamera. Olga, heroine of “Winetr Cherry 1 and 2” comes from America to Russia. She is rich and beautiful as ever.

1280 KONTSERT DLYA KRYSY (CONCERT FOR A RAT)

1995, 103 min., color, b/w, ”Lenfilm”, “Ermitazhny Most”, Roskomkino

Tragicomedy

Director: Oleg Kovalov, screenplay: Timur Baulin, Vladimir Maslov, Oleg Kovalov, camera: Yevgeny Shermegor, production designer: Viktor Ivanov, sound: Marina Polyanskaya

Cast: Yelena Savina, Pyotr Zaichenko, Fyodor Konovalov, Katya Tamnitskaya, Alexander Sheff, Valery Smorygo, Alexei Muravyev

Loosely based on literary works by Daniil Khrams (1939)

“Concert for a rat” is a tragic and comic panorama of pre-war life, full of lyricism and black humour. The film is set in a totalitarian state which resembles Germany and the USSR of the 30-es. One of the aims of the film is to reveal the complicated connection between Kharms’ attitude to life and the time he lived in.

• 
  The film director Oleg Kovalov was awarded the Special Prize at the KINOSHOK-95 Film Festival.
  

1281 MANIYA ZHIZELI (MANIA OF GISELLE)

1995, 86 min., color, ”Rok”, ”Lenfilm”, Roskomkino

Biographic story

Director: Alexei Uchitel, screenplay: Dunya Smirnova, camera: Sergei Lando, production designer: Nikolay Samonov, misic: Leonid Desyatnikov, sound: Leonid Lerner

Cast: Galina Tyunina, Mikhail Kozakov, Yevgeny Sidikhin, Andrei Smirnov, Sergei Vinogradov, Leonid Roskoshny

The film tells about the tragic fate of Russian ballerina Olga Spesivtseva who emigrated from Russia in the 20-es. Story of brilliant career and dramatic life story of the great dancer are told in the film not as a biographical document but as a theme of love enchantment delirium which was the most important theme in Spesivtseva’s art. This theme is the leit-motif of the story revealing the close connection between gift and madness, art and obsession, will and fate.

• 
  The actress Galina Tyunina was awarded the Prize for the Best Actor’s Debut at the “Molodost” (“Youth”) International Film Festival in Kiev, the Ukraine.
  
• 
  The film was awarded the Main Prize of the III Russian Cinema Festival in Onfleur, France.
  

1282 OSOBENOSTI NATSIONALNOY OKHOTY (PECULIARITIES OF NATIONAL HUNTING)

1995, 90 min., color, ”Lenfilm”, ”Roskomkino”

Comedy

Written and directed by: Alexander Rogozhkin, screenplay: Andrei Zhegalov, production designer: Igor Timoshenko, Valentina Atsikayevskaya, misic: Vladislav Panchenko, sound: Nikolay Astakhov

Cast: Ville Haapassalo, Alexei Buldakov, Viktor Bychkov, Semyon Strugachev, Sergei Kupriyanov, Sergei Russkin, Sergei Gusinsky, Igor Sergeyev, Igorv Dobryakov, Yuri Makusinsky, Zoya Buryak, Boris Cherdyntsev, Alexander Zavyalov

A Young Finn named Raive who is working on a book on peculiarities of national hunting in different countries comes to Russia. With a company comprising men of different standing he goes to a remote forestry officer’s post.

Hunting a large beast turns into a traditional Russian drinking party. Together with Russian hunters the Finn gets into all sorts of comic situations...

• 
  The film was awarded the Grand Prix in the main contest at KINOTAVR-95 (the Open Russian Film Festival); the Special Prize of the Jury at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary; the Prize of the Russian Cinema Critics’ Guild at the International Film Festival in Sochi; the Grand Prix of the “Okno v Yevropu” (“The Window to Europe”) International Film Festival in Vyborg.
  

1283 PRIBYTIYE POYEZDA (ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN)

1995, almanach of 5 novels, commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to mark the 100th anniversary of cinema

1. TROFIM (TROFIM)

25 min., color, STV, ROSKOMKINO

Drama

Director: Alexei Balabanov, screenplay: Alexei Balabanov and Sergei Selyanov, camera: Sergei Astakhov, production designer: Sergei Shemyakin, misic: Sergei Prokofyev, sound: Maxim Belovolov

Cast: Sergei Makovetsky, Zoya Buryak, Semyon Strugachev, Alexei Balabanov, Alexei German, Igor Shibanov, Vladimir Bogdanov, Lyudmila Alexandrova, Viktor Poluektov, Dmitry Meskhiyev, Sergei Barkovsky

An ordinary Russian story. A husband jealous of his brother, killed him with an axe and escaped to St. Petersburg where he was later arrested in a brothel.

2. EKZERSIS NOMER PYAT (EXERCISE NO. 5)

20 min., color, “Ostrov”, ROSKOMKINO, KINOFORUM

Melodrama

Director: Dmitry Mekskhiyev, screenplay: Arkady Tigai, camera: Sergei Machilsky, production designer: Viktor Tikhomirov, sound: Konstantin Zarin

Cast: Irina Metlitskaya, Alexei Serebryakov, Andrei Krasko, Yuri Kuznetsov, Nina Usatova, Alexander Polovtsev, Viktor Tikhomirov, Leonid Gromov, Ivan Shvedov, Oleg Mel’nik, Vladimir Bogdanov, Yekaterina Golubeva

A film is being shot. The crew is waiting for the right weather. Some people are drinking coffee, some are trying to rehearse, some are sorting out personal problems. And they are watched by an impassive camera, forgotten to be turned off.

1284 RUSSKIY PAROVOZ (RUSSIAN LOCOMOTIVE)

1995, 77 min., color, ”Barmaley”, ROSKOMKINO, ”Opalfilmproduktion” (Germany)

Risky adventure film for children

Director: Nenad Dyapich, screenplay: Nenad Dyapich, Goran Radovanovich, Martin Teo Kriger, camera: Vladimir Burykin, Artyom Melkumyan, production designer, music: Igor Tsvetkov, sound: Arthur Shikhov

Cast: Yelena Sanayeva, Rolan Bykov, Mikhail Gluzsky, Masha Kapitskaya, Artiom Urvachev, Denis Serd’iukov

During vacation a curator of Berlin Museum of Transport comes with his son Peter to St. Petersburg planning to make a videofilm about the local museum of transport. Having learned that there exists a rare copy of an old locomotive heroes of the film start looking for it and come to a small town where local dealers are ready to sell the relic abroad as scrap metal. Peter and his friends start their struggle for the locomotive.

1285 SERGEI EIZENSHTEIN. AVTOBIOGRAPHIYA (SERGEI EISENSTEIN. AUTOBIOGRAPHY)

1995, 89 min., color, b/w, STV, Gosfilmofond Rossiyi, ROSKOMKINO

Arrangement

Written and directed by: Oleg Kovalov, camera: Vladimir Smirnov, production designers: Vig Cheikauskas, Dmitry Pakhomov, sound: Marina Polyanskaya, Maxim Belovolov

The film is devoted to the 100th anniversary of Russian cinema and marks the centenary of Sergei Eisenstein. All events shown on the screen reflect the tragic period in Russia’s life in period between the two revolutions and Stalinist terror. The events and their participants are chosen to stress the special place Eisensten’s art occupies in the 20th century culture.

1286 CHETVYORTAYA PLANETA (THE FOURTH PLANET)

1995, 92 min., color, ”Astrakhan-lumex-studiya”, “MIKO-film”with the input from “Lenfilm”

Science Fiction

Director: Dmitry Astrakhan, screenplay: Oleg Danilov, camera: Yuri Vorontsov, production designer: Sergei Kokovkin, misic: Alexander Pantykin, sound: Galina Lukina

Cast: Anatoly Kotenev, Daniel McVickar (USA), Olga Belyaeva, Yuri Orlov, Vladimir Khrapunov

Loosely based on Oleg Danilov’s play of the same title.

Having landed at an unknown planet astronauts find themselves in their past. The science fiction story loosely based on Ray Bradbury’s and Stanislav Lem’s motives is used by the authors of the film as a backdrop for human behaviour study in a non-typical situation.

1287 YA IDU ISKAT (I AM GOING TO SEARCH)

1995, 13 min., color, ”Lenfilm”, ROSKOMKINO, VGIK

Ironic thriller

Director: Vasily Chiginsky (workshop of Vladimir Naumov), screenplay: Ramil Yamaleyev, camera: Anton Antonov, production designer: Fyodor Savelyev, misic: Mikhail Ekimyan, sound: Natalya Avanesova

Cast: Darya Muzychenko, Yuri Pavlov, Yelena Kucherenko, Vladimir Shevelov, Georgy Kervalishvili, Vera Tarasova, Igor Korniyenko, Igor Kozlov-Sakhalinsky, Vladimri Borisov, Alexei Zasetsky

1288 PRINTSIPIALNY I ZHALOSTLIVY VZGLYAD (PRINCIPAL AND COMPASSIONATE LOOK)

1996, 90 min., color, ”Lenfilm” with the input from ROSKOMKINO

Drama

Director: Alexander Sukhochev, screenplay: Renata Litvinova, camera: Alexander Korneyev, Artyom Melkumyan, production designers: Vladimir Yuzhakov, Yelena Zhukova, music, sound: Yelena Demidova, Larisa Maslova

Cast: Natalya Kolyakanova, Tatyana Okunevskaya, Milena Tontegode, Olga Samoshina, Valery Barinov, Sergei Russkin

Forty-year old Alya has been abandoned by her husband and son. Her mother does her best to distract the heroine from her loneliness. However, her clumsy efforts do not help — Alya prefers top escape into the world of her dreams, fantasies and childhood memories.

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  The film was awarded the Main Prize of the “Okno v Yevropu” (“The Window to Europe”) International Film Festival in Vyborg; the Third Premium of the “Molodost” (“Youth”) International Film Festival in Kiev (1996). The actress Natalya Kolyakanova was honored the Prize for the Best Actress’ Work at the Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi (1996).
  

1289 AMERIKANKA (THE AMERICAN LADY)

1997, 90 min., color, “Lenfilm”, Goskino

Melodrama

Director: Dmitry Meskhiyev, screenplay: Yuri Korotkov, camera: Sergei Machilski, production designer: Natalya Kochergina, misic: Irina Tseslukevich, sound: Konstantin Zarin

Cast: Sergei Vasilyev, Natalya Danilova, Oleg Fyodorov, Alisa Grebenschikova, Pavel Stogov, Yuri Kuznetsov, Nina Usatova, Viktor Bychkov, Andrei Krasko

The early 1970-s. Liosha Kolyadko, in his ninth year of school, lives in a provincial town with his elder brother and sister. His brother dies in a motorcycle crash... Liosha's personal tragedy is further complicated by his old and secret love for his dead brother's girlfriend Tanya. For her, his first love, he is willing to do anything — including the most crazy “feats”...

1290 BOMBA (THE BOMB)

1997, 72 min., color, ”Nikola-film”

Erotic comedy

Director: Dmitry Meskhiyev, screenplay: Sergei Radlov, camera: Sergei Machilski, production designer: Natalya Kochergina, misic: Yevgeny Pusser, sound: Konstantin Zarin

Cast: Viktor Bychkov, Alexander Polovtsev, Olga Tarasenko, Olga Tolostetskaya, Vasilina Strel’nikova

The story is set in the 1910-s. Accompanied by three charming girls, two underground revolutionaries conduct a complicated scientific experiment.

1291 BRAT (THE BROTHER)

1997, 96 min., color, STV

Criminal drama

Written and directed by: Alexei Balabanov, camera: Sergei Astakhov, production designer: Vladimir Kartashov, misic: Vyacheslav Butusov, sound: Maxim Belovolov

Cast: Sergei Bodrov, Svetlana Pismichenko, Viktor Sukhorukov, Maria Zhukova, Sergei Shurzin, Yuri Kuznetsov, Vyacheslav Butusov, Chizh, Sergei Debizhev, Irina Rakshina, Anatoly Zhuravlyov, Andrei Fedortsev

Dismissed from the Army, Danila Bagrov returns to a provincial town, from which he proceeds to Petersburg on a visit to the elder brother whom he hasn't seen for a long time. His brother, who became a hired killer, is trying to draw Danila into his business...

1292 V TOY STRANE (IN THAT COUNTRY)

1997, 90 min., color, ”Lenfilm”, Goskino, ”Narodny Film”

Melodrama

Written and directed by: Lydiya Bobrova, camera: Sergei Astakhov, Valery Revich, production designer: Gennadi Popov, misic: Gennadi Zavolokin, sound: Igor Terekhov

Cast: Dmitry Klopov, Vladimir Borchaninov, Anna Ovsyannikova, Alexander Stakheyev, Andrei Dunayev, Svetlana Gaitan, Zoya Buryak

The film has three main characters representing the three main elements of the Russian personality: the worker team leader Chapurin (power on village level), the meek industrious Skuridin and Timofei Ivanovich, drowning his mental discord in wine...

Through their personalities we follow the course of life in a distant province with its joys, worries and grieves.

• 
  The film was awarded the Prize of Peace at the 47th International Film Festival in Berlin (1998); the Press Prize at the KINOSHOK International Film Festival in Anapa (1998); the Special Mention of the FIPRESSI Jury at the 47th International Film Festival in Berlin (1998).
  

1293 ISTORIYA PRO RICHARDA, MILORDA I PREKRASNUYU ZHAR-PTITSU (THE STORY OF RICHARD, MILORD AND THE BEATIFUL FIREBIRD)

1997, 80 min., color, ”Barmaley”, Goskino, ”Lenfilm”

Adventure

Director: Nino Akhvlediani, screenplay: Yelena Prokhorova with input from Nino Akhvlediani, camera: Lomer Akhvlediani, production designer: Valery Yurkevich, misic: Igor Stravinskki, Antonin Dvorzhak, sound: Konstantin Zarin

Cast: Misha Wasserbaum, Igor Kopylov, Georgy Schtil, Kira Kreilis-Petrova, Roma Dyudin, Anatoly Ravikovich, Alexander Demyanenko

The former professional theater director Dima Kamentsev discovers a fascinating pastime: he stages a play by William Shakespeare, using teenage club amateur actors...

He engaged the “difficult” teenager nicknamed “Milord” for the part of Richard III...

1294 SERGEY EIZENSHTEIN. MEKSIKANSKAYA FANTAZIYA (SERGEI EISENSTEIN. A MEXICAN FANTASY)

1997, 100 min., color, STV, “Gosfil’mofond”

Arrangement

Written and directed by: Oleg Kovalov, camera: Dmitry Pakhomov, production designer: Vyacheslav Gayvoronski, sound: Marina Polyanskaya

The sequel of a two-part picture about Sergei Eisenstein. The author offers his version of the Master's uncompleted picture titled “Da Zdravstvuyet Meksika” (“Long Live Mexico”).

1295 TSAREVICH ALEXEY (TSAREVICH ALEXEI)

1997, 80 min., color, ”Golos”, Goskino, ”Lenfilm”

Historical drama

Written and directed by: Vitaly Melnikov, camera: Ivan Bagayev, production designers: Sergei Kokovkin, Valery Yurkevich, misic: Andrei Petrov, sound: Asya Zvereva

Cast: Alexei Zuyev, Viktor Stepanov, Natalya Yegorova, Stanislav Lyubshin, Vladimir Menshov, Mikhail Kononov, Fyedor Stukov, Lyudmila Zaitseva, Yekaterina Kulakova

Having received a report saying that his son Alexei is plotting against him, Tsar Pyotr orders Count Tolstoi to bring Tsarevich and Yefrosinya, his companion, to Petersburg.

Yezopka, dispatched by Tolstoi, cunningly lures Alexei back to his motherland. Pyotr interrogates his son, inducing him to inherit the power. But Alexei chooses the fate of a common person...

In a fit of rage, the Tsar orders to subject his son to the tortures which he doesn't survive...

• 
  The film was awarded the Grand Prix of the Russian Film Festival in Onfleur, France; the Main Prize of the “Okno v Yevropu” (“The Window to Europe”)International Film Festival in Vyborg. The actor Alexei Zuyev was honored the Prize for the Best Actor’s Work at the “Okno v Yevropu” International Film Festival in Vyborg (1997).
  

1296 TSIRK SGOREL, I KLOUNY RAZBEZHALIS (THE CIRCUS BURNED DOWN, AND THE CLOWNS DISPERSED)

1997, 100 min., color, ”Lenfilm”, Goskino

Drama

Director: Vladimir Bortko, screenplay: Vladimir Bortko with input from Nataliya Bortko, camera: Sergei Lando, production designer: Vladimir Svetozarov, misic: Vladimir Dashkevich, sound: Natalya Avanesova

Cast: Nikolai Karachentsov, Mariya Shukshina, Tanya Yu., Nina Ruslanova, Sergei Dreiden, Zinaida Sharko, Kseniya Kachalina

A fifty-year-old movie director, once famous and prosperous, nowadays altogether unwanted, is summarizing his life. Once upon a time he encountered Death...

1297 SHIZOFRENIYA (SCHIZOPHRENIA)

1997, 2 parts, 160 min., color, ”Lenfilm”, “Stabilnaya Liniya”, Roskomkino

Political thriller

Director: Viktor Sergeyev, screenplay: Alexander Abdulov, Yevgeny Kozlovski, Viktor Nevski (Sergeyev), camera: Yuri Shaigardanov, production designer: Viktor Zhelobinski, misic: Andrei Makarevich, sound: Asya Zvereva

Cast: Alexander Abdulov, Alexander Zbruyev, Kirill Lavrov, Leonid Bronevoi, Yuri Kuznetsov, Darya Kabolova, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Nikolai Trofimov, Boris Klyuyev, Viktor Stepanov, Leonid Nevedomski

A certain Russian politician of high standing orders the State Security bodies to kill the manager of a large financial corporation intending to run for President...

The prospective killer Golubchik, convicted for murder, is selected from among prisoners. He goes by the nickname “Nemoy”. But “Nemoy” comes to be beyond control...