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Wild Bunch has snatched up all rights in Germany, France and Spain for The Pilot: A Battle for Survival, a Russian World War II action film from director Renat Davletyarov (Steel Butterfly, Mortal Affair).

The Pilot is set in December 1941. Russian pilot Nikolai Komlev (Dead Mountain and Stalingrad star Pyotr Fyodorov) flying his Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, is shot down behind enemy lines. After surviving a crash in a remote forest, he has to find his way back home, battling hunger and extreme cold while evading packs of hungry wolves and detachments of German soldiers.

“We were really convinced by the story and the ...

Wild Bunch has snatched up all rights in Germany, France and Spain for The Pilot: A Battle for Survival, a Russian World War II action film from director Renat Davletyarov (Steel Butterfly, Mortal Affair).

The Pilot is set in December 1941. Russian pilot Nikolai Komlev (Dead Mountain and Stalingrad star Pyotr Fyodorov), flying his Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, is shot down behind enemy lines. After surviving a crash in a remote forest, he has to find his way back home, battling hunger and extreme cold while evading packs of hungry wolves and detachments of German soldiers.

“We were really convinced by the story and the ...

The Russian Pavilion and the virtual stand at Marché du Film are organized by Roskino with the support of the Russian Cinema Fund and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Despite complications due to the coronavirus pandemic, Russia will take part in the world’s major film festival. The Russian Pavilion will open on July 6 at Village International in Cannes. The Pavilion traditionally represents Russia at the Festival and the Marché du Film market being the main information center for promoting Russian cinema on an international scale.

The Pavilion will become a place of offline discussions, presentations, and networking of Russian companies with their foreign partners. Online events will also be held at the Russian Pavilion for those who are not able to reach the festival because of the epidemiological situation. The Pavilion will serve as a meeting point for the Russian participants of the official program of the Festival with press representatives.

U.S. distributor Well Go USA Entertainment has nabbed all North American rights to Russian World War II actioner “The Pilot: A Battle for Survival.”

Directed by Renat Davletyarov and inspired by a true story, the film centers on an Il-2 pilot, played by Pyotr Fyodorov, who crash-lands in a remote forest clearing after an air assault, and must find his way back to friendly territory while battling hunger and extreme cold and evading packs of wolves and Nazi soldiers.

“‘The Pilot: A Battle for Survival’ is a gripping story of survival, bravery and sacrifice in the face of chilling circumstances, made even more riveting due to its depiction of actual historical events,” said Doris Pfardrescher, president and CEO of Well Go USA.

Koch Media will release the film in the U.K., Italy and Switzerland.

“The Pilot” has also sold to New Select for Japan, BoXoo Entertainment for South Korea,...

Well Go USA have picked up North American rights to the Russian WWII actioner The Pilot: A Battle for Survival.

Directed by Renat Davletyarov, the period film follows a Russian pilot, played by Sputnik star Pyotr Fyodorov, who crash-lands behind enemy lines and must fight his way back to friendly territory, facing hunger, extreme cold, wolf packs, and Nazi soldiers. Anna Peskova, Pavel Osadchy, Maksim Emelyanov, and Nikoloz Paikridze co-star.

Davletyarov co-wrote the screenplay to The Pilot, which is based on real-life events, together with Alexey Timoshkin and Sergey Ashkenazi.

Well Go USA president Doris Pfardrescher called the film “a gripping story ...

Well Go USA have picked up North American rights to the Russian WWII actioner The Pilot: A Battle for Survival.

Directed by Renat Davletyarov, the period film follows a Russian pilot, played by Sputnik star Pyotr Fyodorov, who crash-lands behind enemy lines and must fight his way back to friendly territory, facing hunger, extreme cold, wolf packs, and Nazi soldiers. Anna Peskova, Pavel Osadchy, Maksim Emelyanov, and Nikoloz Paikridze co-star.

Davletyarov co-wrote the screenplay to The Pilot, which is based on real-life events, together with Alexey Timoshkin and Sergey Ashkenazi.

Well Go USA president Doris Pfardrescher called the film “a gripping story ...

“The Pilot. A Battle for Survival” (Central Partnership)

Producers: Renat Davletyarov, Vlad Ryashin

Synopsis: December 1941, Northwestern Front. A German tank column is moving toward Moscow. During a mission to halt the enemy’s advance, Soviet pilot Nikolai Komlev’s plane is shot down behind enemy lines. Battling hunger and cold while evading packs of wolves and detachments of Nazi soldiers, the wounded pilot finally makes it back to safety. But there he faces another challenge, which will prove to be the most life-changing of all.

“The World Champion” (Central Partnership)

Producers: Alexey Sidorov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Rafael Minasbekyan, Leonid Vereshschagin

Synopsis: Some sporting triumphs are about more than just claiming a title. Some of them go down in history. A drama based on the legendary 1978 chess match between Soviet world champion Anatoly Karpov and the dissident Viktor Korchnoi. In this battle between two outstanding chess players (pictured), a duel of personalities under immense psychological pressure,...

Kfm: Russian investor boards ‘Black Angel’ remake, ‘made in Russia’ blockbusters, Kfm pitching winners, Latido picks up Ukrainian debut

Russian investment is set to be tapped for Roger Christian’s feature version of his 1980 cult short Black Angel.

Speaking during the first edition of the KinoPoisk Film Market (Kfm) in Moscow, the film’s producer Harald Reichebner said that 70% of the budget is in place as a co-production between the UK, Belgium and Hungary, with the final 30% now to come from an undisclosed private Russian investor.

The $9.7m production features an international cast including Dougray Scott, John Rhys-Davies, Rutger Hauer (who starred as The Mystic Monk in Christian’s 1994 biopic Nostradamus), Turkish-German actress-model Meryem Uzerli, star of the Turkish TV series Muhtesem Yüzyil, and Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov, known to international audiences from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Behind Enemy Lines.

Berlin-based, Austrian-born Reichebner – who had previously worked with Christian as the producer on Nostradamus - told...

An adaptation of Vladimir Sorokin’s bestselling novel The Norm is among eight film projects to be presented at a pitching forum in Venice by Roskino in cooperation with the Venice Film Market on Sept 6 .

Producers Uliana Kovaleva and Antonio Piccoli will be looking for co-producers from Germany for Matrioshka, which is based on the fifth novel by Sorokin who is regarded as the most scandalous Russian novelist of the post-Communist era.

According to Russian scholar David Gillespie, The Norm, which was written between 1979 and 1984 and only published in full for the first time in 1994, is “a statement on the Soviet collective and individual psyche in the last years of the Soviet power”.

The Venice forum will also see producers Nikolay Bunkin, Igor Fokin and Vladislav Pasternak of Hhg Film Company looking to attract international partners for Konstantin Shelepov’s futuristic drama Censor, while Star Media’s Vlad Ryashin, the producer of Renat Davletyarov’s war drama...

New films from Krzysztof Zanussi and Ralph Fiennes to also world premiere at Window To Europe Film Festival.

New films by Gérard Depardieu, Krzysztof Zanussi and Ralph Fiennes will have their world premieres at the 22nd edition of the Window To Europe Film Festival (Aug 8-15) in the Russian town of Vyborg situated close to the border with Finland.

French director Philippe Martinez’s tale of redemption and revenge Viktor, which stars Depardieu, Elizabeth Hurley and Eli Danker, will open a competition section dedicated to films co-produced with Russia.

Viktor, which was shot in Chechnya and Moscow last summer and is being handled internationally by UK-based sales agent Saradan Media, will be released by Paradise in Russian cinemas on September 4.

Co-production competition

Other co-productions selected include Zanussi’s Foreign Body, produced by his own company Studio Filmowe Tor with Italy’s Revolver Film and Russia’s Ineureka and Bella Vostok Ltd; Uzbek director Dilmurod Masaidov’s thriller...

Moscow -- Interfest, the company that has long run the Moscow International Film Festival, has been ousted in favor of organizers with closer connections to the fest's president, director Nikita Mikhalkov, Russian media reported Tuesday.

The move -- just three months before the late June opening of Russia's top international movie showcase -- threatens to make 2007 a disastrous year for a festival that has long been criticized for poor organization and autocratic leadership.

Long-standing events company Interfest, headed by Renat Davletyarov, failed in its bid to win the annual tender for running the festival, in what agency head Mikhail Shvydkoi told business daily Kommersant had been a "fair competition." The bidding is overseen by the Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography.

The change comes after a public falling out between Mikhalkov and Davletyarov at last year's festival after a last-minute decision by Austrian director Michael Haneke -- citing work pressures -- to pull out as jury chairman.

Haneke's abrupt cancellation caused a scandal in Russia and drew a sharp rebuke from Mikhalkov, who described the decision as "unprecedented."

On Tuesday, Shvydkoi did not specify which company had won, but sources close to the Moscow festival identified it as Paragon, a company headed by Nataliya Semina, said to have close contacts with festival president Mikhalkov.

Kirsi Tykkylainen, the former head of the international department of the Finnish Film Fund, a fluent Russian speaker who once worked in the Finnish embassy in Moscow, is said to have been offered the post of program director.

If appointed, that decision might prove as controversial in Russia as the change of management committee. After last year's festival, two popular and key members of festival staff were sacked: chief programmer Kirill Razlogov and press chief Petr Shepotinnik, a film critic and television personality.

On Tuesday night, Shepotinnik said he knew nothing more of the changes in the festival management other than what he had read in the media. "I'm no longer associated with the festival and, therefore, am not qualified to comment," he said.

Others who still have close connections to the festival, however, predicted that, with only three months to go, the changes could spell disaster for the 29th edition of the event.

"As far as I know, (Semina) is Mikhalkov's cultural adviser. There is no way to reach her except through (Mikhalkov's film company) the Tri-Te studio," a source said.

"No offers have been made to anybody. Everybody says that Kirill Razlogov will become program director again, but he himself says he knows nothing about it. No films were selected, no DVDs submitted, no negotiations carried out, no Web site, no team. It is clear already that 2007 is going to be a disaster," the source added.

Mikhalkov could not be reached by phone, and a request for comment e-mailed to Tri-Te went unanswered.

MOSCOW -- Interfest, the company that has long run the Moscow International Film Festival, has been ousted in favor of organizers with closer connections to the fest's president, director Nikita Mikhalkov, Russian media reported Tuesday.

The move -- just three months before the late June opening of Russia's top international movie showcase -- threatens to make 2007 a disastrous year for a festival that has long been criticized for poor organization and autocratic leadership.

Long-standing events company Interfest, headed by Renat Davletyarov, failed in its bid to win the annual tender for running the festival, in what agency head Mikhail Shvydkoi told business daily Kommersant had been a "fair competition." The bidding is overseen by the Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography.

The change comes after a public falling out between Mikhalkov and Davletyarov at last year's festival after a last-minute decision by Austrian director Michael Haneke -- citing work pressures -- to pull out as jury chairman.

MOSCOW -- A last-minute change of mind by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, who had been scheduled to head the international film competition jury this month at the Moscow International Film Festival, drew an indignant response from festival officials Wednesday. Haneke, noted for his controversial French-language films, pulled out after agreeing in writing to serve as head of the jury, festival general director Renat Davletyarov said. The decision -- which Haneke attributed to his work on a new film -- has caused "indignation" and drew a sharp rebuke in a letter from the festival, whose president is Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov.