Kirill Serebrennikov Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov returns to Cannes once again this year with Limonov: The Ballad starring Ben Whishaw, for which we can share a first-look image from above. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kirill Serebrennikov, the celebrated Russian playwright and director whose last three films competed at Cannes, is set to create and direct a sensual, gothic TV adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” Gaston Leroux’s 19th century novel. Serebrennikov’s TV debut, the subversive six-part miniseries will be shot in English and is being produced by Aude Albano at Pathé, in association with Ilya Stewart at Hype Studios.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kinology has come on board the highly anticipated next film of Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele,” based on Olivier Guez’s bestselling novel. Kinology is at Cannes to present the project to buyers. Set to start shooting in a few weeks, the film is being produced by Charles Gillibert at CG Cinema (“Annette”) and Ilya Stewart at Hype Studios (“Tchaikovsky’s Wife”). It stars August Diehl as Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor who found refuge in South America at the end of WWII and was never captured. Mengele died in Brazil in 1979 without having been judged for his crimes. The daring movie will focus on Mengele’s fugitive years, spanning from Paraguay to the Brazilian jungle, and will be told from the man’s point of view.

Kirill Serebrennikov is already a director of note in his native Russia. Now that his last two films have competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in back-to-back years, he may also get the recognition he deserves stateside.

Ukraine by going pirate.After Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a brutal assault on Ukraine on Feb. 24 — a war officially dubbed a “special military operation” — hundreds of major western corporations, including the Hollywood majors, withdrew from the Russian market.More than three months into the war, reports are surfacing about illicit screenings of Hollywood movies at Russian cinemas, with initial reports naming “The Batman,” “Red Notice,” Disney animation “Turning Red” and Michael Bay crime actioner “Ambulance.”According to the Russian edition of Esquire, “The Batman” has been screened at Moscow’s WIP theater, as well as at Greenwich Cinema in the Urlas city of Yekaterinburg and at regional theaters in the Far East of Russia.

Nick Holdsworth European Film Academy president Agnieszka Holland has criticized the Cannes Film Festival for welcoming a Russian movie to the main competition.The Polish-born director – who fled to France in 1981 when Communist authorities imposed martial law – said now was the time to stand up to Russian aggression in Ukraine.That demanded a total ban on Russian cultural products in Europe, she said in Cannes on Saturday.The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker slammed the festival’s inclusion of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.”“If it were up to me, I would not include Russian films in the official program of the festival – even if Kirill Serebrennikov is such a talented artist,” the 73 year old filmmaker said. Speaking in Cannes at an industry roundtable on supporting the Ukrainian film industry at a time of war, Holland added: “Unfortunately my bad feelings were confirmed by his words.

Christopher Vourlias One day after dissident Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, members of the Ukrainian film industry took to the Croisette to call for a total boycott of Russian movie. Meanwhile, just steps away in the Palais des Festivals, the director’s long-awaited return to cinema’s grandest stage was overshadowed by questions about the festival’s controversial selection and over the film’s financial ties to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.Speaking at a politically charged press conference on Thursday, Serebrennikov described Russia’s war in Ukraine as a “total catastrophe” but rejected calls for a boycott of Russian film.

Tchaikovsky’s Wife filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, a Russian dissident was grilled, by the global press at Cannes over the pic being bankrolled by oligarch financing in particular Roman Abramovich, as well as the notion of the world’s boycott against Russia.

Returning to Cannes a year after his feverish drama “Petrov’s Flu” hit the Croisette, Kirill Serebrennikov can finally attend the festival in person after recently being free from years of house arrest. Debuting in competition, his latest offering, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” is a slow-burn historical drama that never manages to escape from being a bore despite its seemingly intriguing premise.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticBack when art house movies played full-time in art houses, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” at least on paper, might have seemed a film of middlebrow commercial hooks — the sort of movie that would have slipped into the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York and played there comfortably for a month or so. The first hook, of course, is Tchaikovsky himself, the Russian composer who created works of such timeless and popular beauty that he is always in danger, in an odd way, of being underrated, like the Spielberg of longhairs.

CANNES, France -- The last two times the Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov had films playing at the Cannes Film Festival, he couldn't attend. He was under a travel ban in Russia as part of a conviction for fraud in what was widely protested as unwarranted repression of the arts in Russia.

Christopher Vourlias Despite widespread calls to boycott Russian cinema in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, the Cannes Film Festival struck an uneasy compromise by banning state delegations and Russians with ties to President Vladimir Putin while allowing individual filmmakers to attend.It’s a decision iconoclastic Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov was quick to support on the eve of the world premiere of his latest feature, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” which bows in competition on May 18.The director was a no-show at his last two Cannes premieres due in no small part to a history of provocation and dissent against the Russian government. But Serebrennikov – who after a nearly five-year legal ordeal learned on March 28 that he could leave Russia a free man – insists that the type of subversive cinema he creates should be separated from pro-Kremlin propaganda and the “paranoid ideology” of the Putin regime. “Russian culture is about the fragility of life.

Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux took part in a ‘meet the press’ session with journalists in Cannes yesterday afternoon.

Christopher Vourlias As the war in Ukraine approaches a grim, three-month mile marker, and the Russian military continues its relentless onslaught, the harsh crackdown on domestic opposition by the Putin regime has left a beleaguered film industry pondering its next steps. Many Russian filmmakers fear they’ll have no choice but to toe the party line, or to flee a country that is increasingly being shut out of the international community.Two-time Oscar nominee Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathan,” “Loveless”), the Kyiv-born producer who has called Russia home for nearly three decades, left Moscow on March 1 after being tipped off that his opposition to the war had landed him in the government’s crosshairs.

Ben Whishaw is to lead Limonov, The Ballad of Eddie, a feature from Kirill Serebrennikov, the Russian filmmaker whose Tchaikovsky’s Wife will play at Cannes.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentIconoclastic Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov (“Leto,” “Petrov’s Flu”) will be unveiling footage in Cannes from his new work-in-progress film “Limonov, the Ballad of Eddie,” starring Ben Whishaw as radical Russian poet and dissident Eduard Limonov and Viktoria Miroshnichenko (“Beanpole”) as his wife Elena.Serebrennikov, who will coming to Cannes with his latest completed work “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” premiering in competition, was shooting “Limonov” in Russia when the war broke out. The director has since been able to leave the country and will complete the rest of the shoot in Europe.A “Limonov” promo reel will be unspooled for buyers in Cannes on May 17.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentA few hours after unveiling Cannes Film Festival’s 2022 Official Selection on the Champs Elysees, artistic director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety to discuss the festival’s drive to not give in to calls for a cultural boycott of Russian films and filmmakers, efforts to have more female directors in competition, discussions to bring back streamers in a near future and what those rumors about David Lynch in the lineup were about. The all-star competition lineup of this upcoming 75th edition boasts no less than four Palme d’Or winning directors, including Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu (Japan) and Swedish helmer Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), as well new films by David Cronenberg (“Crimes of the Future”), Kelly Reichardt (”Showing Up”), James Gray (“Armageddon Time”) and dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov (“Tchaïkovski’s Wife”).

The 75th Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 17-28, was already due to be a starry affair with the likes of Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis screening out of competition. Today it got even hotter with a strong Official Selection that should make for glamorous red carpets, but one that will likewise treat serious subject matter.

Main Competition“Holy Spider,” Ali Abbasi“The Almond Tree,” Valeria Bruni Tedeschi“Crimes of the Future,” David Cronenberg“Tori and Lokita,” Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne“Stars at Noon,” Claire Denis“Brother and Sister,” Arnaud Desplechin“Close,” Lukas Dhont“Armageddon Time,” James Gray“Broker,” Hirokazu Kore-eda“Nostalgia,” Mario Martone“RMN,” Cristian Mungiu“Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Ostlund“Decision to Leave,” Park Chan-wook“Showing Up,” Kelly Reichardt“Leila’s Brothers,” Saeed Roustaee“Boy From Heaven,” Tarik Saleh“Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” Kirill Serebrennikov“Hi-Han,” Jerzy SkolimowskiUn Certain Regard“Les Pires,” Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret“Burning Days,” Emin Alper“Metronom,” Alexandru Belc“All the People I’ll Never Be,” Davy Chou“Sick of Myself,” Kristoffer Borgli“Domingo and the Midst,” Ariel Escalante Meza“Plan 75,” Hayakawa Chie“Beast,” Riley Keough and Gina Gammell“Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer“Butterfly Vision,” Maksim Nakonechnyi“Godland,” Hlynur Palmason“Rodeo,” Lola Quivoron“Joyland,” Saim Sadiq“The Stranger,” Thomas M. Wright“The Silent Twins,” Agnieszka SmocynskaOut of Competition “Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann“Top Gun: Maverick,” Joseph Kosinski“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” George Miller“Masquerade,” Nicholas Bedos“November,” Cedric Jiminez“Z,” Michel Hazanavicius (opening film) Special Screenings“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen“The Natural History of Destruction,” Sergei Loznitsa“Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” Ethan CoenMidnight Screenings“Hunt,” Lee Jung-jae“Moonage Daydream,” Brett Morgen“Fumer Fait Tousser,” Quentin DupieuxCannes Premiere“Non Frangins,” Rachid Bouchareb“Dodo,” Panos H.

Kirill Serebrennikov, the prominent Russian director of film and theater, has had his widely-condemned fraud sentence commuted and has subsequently left the country.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentRussian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov — the director of Cannes competition titles “Leto” and “Petrov’s Flu” — has left the country following the end of a three-year travel ban, and has arrived in Paris.A picture of the iconoclastic Russian helmer popped up on social media on Wednesday. In the pic, Serebrennikov wears a T-shirt that reads “I turn the TV off,” which alludes to the propaganda flooding Russian TV since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb.

Ukraine intensified Tuesday as the Cannes Film Festival said no Russian delegations would be welcome this year and the Venice festival announced free screenings of a film about the 2014 conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.The announcements by Europe's two premier film festivals came on the heels of other high-profile protests in the arts, including Hollywood's decision to pull films scheduled for release in Russia and the Munich Philharmonic's decision to fire chief conductor Valery Gergiev. The orchestra, joined by other orchestras and festivals linked to Gergiev, cited his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his refusal to reject the invasion.Cannes, which is scheduled for May, is the most global of film festivals and its international village of flag-waving pavilions annually hosts more than 80 countries from around the world.In a statement, festival organizers said the ban on any official Russian delegation or individuals linked to the Kremlin would remain “unless the war of assault ends in conditions that will satisfy the Ukrainian people.”The festival didn’t rule out accepting films from Russia.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentKirill Serebrennikov, the iconoclastic Russian filmmaker behind Cannes competition titles “Petrov’s Flu” and “Leto,” is reteaming with French banner Charades on his next daring movie, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.”Serebrennikov, who is under a three-year travel ban, sheds light on the tumultuous relationship between Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the most famous Russian composer of all time, and his wife Antonina Miliukova in his new film.Set in 19th century Russia, the movie portrays Miliukova, a beautiful and bright young woman who became obsessed with Tchaikovsky after listening to his music for the first time. The composer will finally accept their union to put an end to rumors of his homosexuality.

Petrov’s Flu, directed by the dissident Russian film-maker Kirill Serebrennikov, who’s laying the chaos on thick and fast. I’m liking the movie but many others are not.

It’s a good thing you can’t catch a virus from an image because if you could, just a few frames of Kirill Serebrennikov‘s fabulously yeasty, bilious, dank Competition title, “Petrov’s Flu” would bring all of Cannes‘ anti-Covid measures to naught.

CANNES, France -- Celebrated Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov is banned from leaving his home country, so he is attending the Cannes Film Festival virtually. Serebrennikov phoned into the red-carpet premiere of his film, “Petrov's Flu,” by FaceTime and spoke to the media on Tuesday by Zoom.A seat was left open for the 51-year-old director when “Petrov's Flu” premiered Monday in Cannes.

Guy Lodge Film CriticIt’s been two years since iconoclastic Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov was released from a 20-month period of house arrest on embezzlement charges widely considered to have been trumped up by the government. If things haven’t been plain sailing since then — the revived case ended in a suspended sentence last year, confining the director to his home country — he has at least been free to roam, work and film in Russia.

He may be barred from leaving Russia and thus unable to travel to Cannes, but arthouse cinema favorite Kirill Serebrennikov is refusing to let that dampen his spirit ahead of the premiere of his latest movie, Petrov’s Flu, in the French fest’s Competition.

Rebecca Davis editorRussian director Kirill Serebrennikov is banned from leaving his home country and thus cannot legally attend the Cannes Film Festival this summer, where his film “Petrov’s Flu” will debut in competition, his lawyer told AFP Monday.The 51-year-old helmer was sentenced in June 2020 to a three-year suspended prison sentence and issued a fine over a case of embezzlement.His supporters argue that the case against him was politically motivated, since his daring work engages with

Last week, it was announced that “Petrov’s Flu,” the new Russian language film by Kirill Serebrennikov, will bow in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this summer for the pic’s world premiere. In addition, they’ve released an enticing trailer (see below) with English subtitles that echo the comedic tone and showcases Serebrennikov’s strong visual style.

Three years ago, Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia's most celebrated theater director and the helmer of several films — the most recent being the 2018 rock musical Leto, in competition for the Palme d'Or at Cannes — woke up to find himself in a nightmare straight out of a Franz Kafka novel. His apartment and the offices of his Gogol Center, a state-funded theater, were raided by investigators who claimed he'd embezzled several million dollars in public funds.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentFilm and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, whose film “Leto” played in competition in Cannes in 2018, was found guilty of embezzlement by a Russian court on Friday, according to news agency TASS.Serebrennikov, a vocal critic of the Kremlin, was accused of being the leader of a group that embezzled 129 million roubles ($1.87 million) in state funds, a charge he denied.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterKirill Serebrennikov, the prominent Russian filmmaker behind The Student and Leto, has been found guilty of criminal fraud by a Moscow court after a controversial trial.Supporters of Serebrennikov claim the decision is politically motivated.

Christopher Vourlias Producer Ilya Stewart was in the early days of financing “Petrov’s Flu,” the latest feature from Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov (“Leto”), when he chose to bypass state funding bodies.

Christopher Vourlias Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov (“Leto,” “The Student”) is developing a limited series based on the life of legendary Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, Variety has learned exclusively.The series will be written and directed by Serebrennikov, and produced by Ilya Stewart, Murad Osmann and Pavel Burya of Moscow-based Hype Film.“Andrei Tarkovsky and his iconic masterpieces greatly influenced world cinema and continue to be a source of endless inspiration for filmmakers