‘Dear Comrades!’ Director Andrei Konchalovsky On Authenticity And Action Propelling Russia’s Oscar Entry – Contenders International

Set in 2025, Ukraine’s post-apocalyptic International Feature Film Oscar entry Atlantis imagines life — and death — in the country one year after the ongoing war with Russia has ended. Sergiy (Andriy Rymaruk) and his friend Ivan (Vasyl Antoniak) both suffer from PTSD, and lead joyless lives shooting at targets and working in a steel factory. When the factory is closed down by its British owner, Sergiy ends up driving a water truck around the barren landscape.  

Christopher Vourlias Shout! Studios has taken North American rights to the action thriller “Fire,” and Russian production and distribution powerhouse Central Partnership has closed a host of other territories, the company announced during the Sundance Film Festival.Directed by Alexey Nuzhniy, “Fire” is a splashy, big-budget actioner about heroic smokejumpers racing against disaster. Since its Christmas Eve release, the film has grossed more than $10 million at the Russian box office.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Pixar’s Soul got off to a jazzy start in Korea this weekend, debuting at No. 1 and seeing the second best bow for a non-local title since the Covid pandemic began. The Pete Docter-directed original also launched in Russia, at No. 1, and came in ahead of several pre-Covid animation openings. In total, Soul led the international box office with a $10.4M weekend from 13 markets. See more on Soul below.

when it comes to life on the farm with Brandon and his parents in rural Virginia.In this exclusive clip from Sunday's new episode of, 26-year-old Julia — who hails from Russia and moved to Dinwiddie, Virginia, to be with her fiancé, 27-year-old Brandon, whom she connected with online — can no longer tolerate living on the farm and doing the chores.

In the opening scene of Never Gonna Snow Again, Poland's contender for the 2021 international film Oscar, we see a muscular man step out of a mystical forest and make his way to a concrete, Soviet-style government building. He's a foreigner — from Ukraine — and is there to secure a residency permit.There's no love coming from the face of the grey bureaucrat behind the desk but, with a wave of his hands, and some whispered words in Russian, the bureaucrat falls into a deep slumber.

With the help of covert reporters on the ground in China and direction from documentary filmmakers Hao Wu and Jean Tsien in New York, the team behind 76 Days was able to bring the bravery of frontline workers and the painful images of the impact of the novel coronavirus to a global audience.

Refresh for latest…: Fans of Kollywood cinema got a treat this weekend as Tamil action thriller Master debuted in India and a handful of other markets across the harvest festival period. While we do not have confirmed figures for the Vijay-starrer in India, estimates had it at around $11M from Wednesday-Friday with the film believed to have crossed the coveted Rs 100 crore ($15M) gross mark over the weekend.

ViacomCBS' Nickelodeon will premiere CG-animated seriesDeer Squadin the U.S. following its run in international territories.

International box office was led again by China this weekend with local titles A Little Red Flower and Shock Wave 2 at the top of the charts, and Disney/Pixar’s Soul continuing its jazzy run there. The Pete Docter-directed original is soon to become Pixar’s No.

No one can say filmmaker Bryan Fogel doesn’t enjoy a cinematic challenge.

Politics and Covid-19 have been intertwined ever since the novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China a year ago. But when director Hao Wu made 76 Days, his harrowing film documenting hospital workers and Covid patients in Wuhan as the city went through lockdown, he left political questions aside.

In early 2017, reports began to emerge out of Chechnya that authorities were detaining gay men and subjecting them to torture and humiliation. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov immediately repudiated the claims (he maintains that there are no LGBTQ individuals in Chechnya), but the documentary evidence of abuse is impossible to deny.

Documentary filmmaker Bryan Fogel has become expert at telling complex stories of international intrigue.

Billy Ray has every intention of shamelessly plugging the actors who populated his Showtime series, The Comey Rule, at every opportunity that presents itself this awards season.

Alissa Simon Film CriticA naïve teenager comes of age amid the carnage of World War I’s Eastern Front in this propulsive adaptation of Aleksandrs Grins’ 1934 patriotic classic “Blizzard of Souls.” With its muscular direction by former documentarian Dzintars Dreibergs, atmospheric cinematography and careful attention to period detail, this account of a troop of Latvian Riflemen fighting first for the Russian Imperial Army against invading German forces and then for an independent Latvia should

Joan Micklin Silver, the pioneering independent female director behind Hester Street and Crossing Delancey, among many other titles, who fought to bring Jewish stories to the silver screen, has died. She was 85.

Refresh for latest…: China was the big international box office winner this weekend with three local movies at the top of the chart and a New Year’s Day record set on Friday. That came just as it was confirmed the market led global box office for 2020, surpassing North America for the first time.