News

Russian Film Week USA, which runs Jan. 23-29, is expanding its reach as it pivots to an online format, allowing audiences across the U.S. to sample Russia’s latest cinematic output. The event opens with Alexey Uchitel’s surreal road trip movie “Tsoy,” which imagines the aftermath of the fateful 1990 car accident that killed Soviet rock idol Victor Tsoy.

The first batch of 10 titles to be announced by the event, formerly called Russian Film Week New York, are all international or North American premieres, with the rest of the program, including documentaries and children’s films, to be announced later this month.

“The Whaler Boy,” which won Venice Days’ award for best director, is the closing night film. It follows an indigenous teenager as he discovers a world far beyond his whaling community. Other films in the lineup include Ivan Tverdovskiy’s “The Conference,” which also played at Venice Days,...

Rock and rebellion share identical DNA. From adolescent angst to organized resistance, the music genre has sung backup vocals to more than a few social uprisings in its time. Accompanied by its promises of fame, recklessness, and freedom, rock embodies a lifestyle many seek to lead, and as such, the dream of becoming the prototypical “rockstar” endures to this day.

Read More: The Best Films Of 2019… So Far

However, for Mike Naumenko (Roman Bilyk) and Viktor Tsoy (Teo Yoo), the lifestyle of a Russian musician was far from the fantasy of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll.

Continue reading ‘Leto’: This Russian Rock And Roll Biopic Hits All The Wrong Notes [Review] at The Playlist.

Leto! Gunpowder & Sky has debuted an official Us trailer for the indie Russian film Leto, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year to some rave reviews. This also went on to play at lots of other festivals throughout last year, from Karlovy Vary to Vienna and more. Leto, directed by filmmaker & theater director Kirill Serebrennikov who was under house arrest for the last year, is based on the true story of Viktor Tsoy and his band called Kino. The title translates to Summer, and the film is shot in black & white, evoking an old school feeling taking us back to the 70s & 80s. It's an awesome, groovy rock film with some incredible musical sequences that you just have to see on the big screen. Teo Yoo stars as Viktor Tsoy, and the main cast features Irina Starshenbaum, Roman Bilyk, Anton Adasinsky, Yuliya Aug, & Filipp Avdeev. This was one...