Yuri's Day
Russia, 2008, 137 min Drama/Mystery
Presented by New People
Director Kirill Serebrennikov
Screenplay Yury Arabov
Producer Natalya Mokritskaya
Director of photography Oleg Lukichev
Art Director Yury Grigorovich
Composer Sergei Nevski
Starring Ksenia Rappoport, Roman Shmakov, Evgenia Kuznetsova, Sergei Sosnovskii, Andrei Smirnov
Awards: ‘Best Actress' 19th Sochi Film Festival ‘Kinotavr'
synopsis
Liubov, a world famous opera diva, arrives in her native town of Youriev-Polskii in order to show it to her teenage son before they both leave Russia for Europe. During one of their visits to a local Kremlin, Lubov's son mysteriously disappears. After a few days of her frantic search, despite the loss of her son, her wealth and her social status, Lubov begins to make new and unexpected discoveries in this provincial town. The second feature from the nationally and internationally acclaimed director of ‘Playing the Victim', this new film has already been selected for numerous film festivals around the world. It is a complex tapestry of mysticism, spiritualism and hyperrealism.
Click here for a trailer in Russian
creators
Kirill Serebrennikov
Director
Serebrennikov graduated from the physics department of Rostov State University in 1992 with a first class degree. He directed in the theatre while still a student, staging about 20 productions in the theatres of Rostov-on-Don. He has directed plays in various theatres in Moscow, including the Moscow Art Theatre ('Terrorism' and 'Playing the Victim' by the Presnyakov brothers, 'Philistines' by Maxim Gorky, 'The Golovlyovs' by Saltykov-Shchedrin and 'The Forest' by Ostrovsky). He is the winner of the 'Triumph Youth' prize (2001) and also three theatre prizes - Seagull (2002), Golden Mask (2003) and Crystal Turandot (2006). Kirill Serebrennikov's addiction to film began in 1998, when he shot a TV series, a documentary film and a feature film. In 1999 he was awarded the national TEFI prize for television in the director category. His first feature film ‘Playing the Victim' (2007) has proved hugely successful in the festival and mainstream circuit, and was one of the eight films screened at the 1st Russian Film Festival in London.
Yuri Arabov
Scriptwriter
Born in 1954, he graduated from VGIK with a diploma in scriptwriting. He debuted together with Aleksander Sokurov, writing the script for a film that has become an arthouse classic: ‘Mournful Unconcern' (1987). Arabov and Sokurov continue to collaborate, having created 10 features together. A winner of many prestigious national awards (NIKA, Golden Taurus), Arabov has been appointed head of the scriptwriting faculty at VGIK.
actors
Ksenia Rappaport (Liubov)
Born in 1974, Ksenia graduated from the St-Petersburg Academy of Theatre in 2000. She is a member of Maly Theatre company, where she performed brilliantly in productions of Chekhov's classics ‘Seagull' and ‘Uncle Vanya'. Her cinematic career began in early the 1990's. Today her filmography extends to over 15 titles, including the important film ‘Get Thee Out' (1991) by Dmitri Astrakhan, as well as some Italian co-productions, for example ‘La Sconosciuta' (2006) by Tornatore, for which she won the ‘Best Actress' David di Donatello 2007 award. She recently completed ‘L'Uomo che Ama'(2008) by Maria Sole Tognazzi. Ksenia extraordinary's grace and beauty have always been admired by directors and critics alike. This year she has been invited to host the opening and closing ceremonies of 65th Venice IFF.
Back to the main programme at the Russian Film Festival 2008
