Russian Film Week

by Emilia Ippolito

The fourth edition of the UK Russian Film Week closed with the film The End Of Season (2019) and a pleasant gala party at the BFI Southbank, with whom the Festival connects every year.
Filip Perkon, producer, Director and founder of the UK Russian Film Festival, has already announced a wider and richer program for next year, which will be celebrating its fifth anniversary in four UK cities: London, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Oxford

The film by the recently deceased Konstantin Khudyakov, offers strong resonances from traditional Russian theatre : Chekhov’s Three Sisters in particular

It is a ‘nice’ story of three sisters dealing with love connections and relationships... with a ‘black’ twist before the end ..

Although the late twist is not unexpected, one of the interesting elements is the setting : the location is a very small and remote village somewhere in one of the Baltic countries.

Latvian producer Ekaterina Maskina and Russian male protagonist Andrius Paulavicius diplomatically declined to answer provocative questions of the audience about past conflicts between the former USSR and Baltic countries or - even worse - Lithuania, during the Q&A- understandably so

We spoke to Andrius Paulavicius- who was very relaxed after the screening
EI: How did it feel to be the protagonist in a feature with very strong resemblances to Chekhov?
AP: It didn’t feel that way at all during the shooting, but of course I respect different views and opinions
You see, I’m not necessarily a Chekhov fan, however I’m well aware of its objective artistic value

EI: Did you find the role too traditional : husband looking forward to having descendants, etc?
AP: Well, the role was obviously scripted by the screenwriter ... the good thing was a lot of talking and discussions, also with the producer, whom I’ve known since acting school in Moscow. I actually had a huge crush on her... just sharing a personal anecdote !

EI: Any projects for the future ?
AP: I’m already working on a TV series and another feature in Russia, but I’d love to work in Western Europe or even better, the US! I do think East and West could make more films together... let’s wait and see!