The Russian Resurrection Film Festival is proud to announce the festival celebrations will be kicking off in Brisbane on 26 July with Brisbane’s Opening Night film The Geographer followed by official after party including Russian hospitality the festival is known for. The Geographer will make its world premiere at this year’s Russian Resurrection Film Festival as it is yet to be released in Russia! For Brisbane Opening Night, Queensland will be welcoming special festival guest, Director Nikolai Lebedev, who brings his record breaking Legend No.17 with him to screen during the festival.

Hot off its international premiere screening at Sydney Opening Night, Brisbane audiences will be treated to the Queensland Premiere ofLegend No.17 when the festival hits Centro. In just two weeks, Legend No.17 broke all Russian box office records to become the highest grossing Russian film of all time. Based on a true story, the film tells of the victories and deprivation of ice hockey legend Valery Harlamov. Harlamov’s dream, determination and sporting abilities saw him rise to the top of the sport and score in a battle of nations, which changed forever, the standing of ice-hockey in world sport. Festival guest, Director Nikolai Lebedev has assembled an all-star cast (Daniil Kozlovsky, Oleg Menshikov, Vladimir Menshov, Roman Madyanov, Svetlana Ivanova) to bring to the screen this thrilling and exciting blockbuster-sports drama.

Nikolai Lebedev has worked across a spectrum of projects in the film industry ranging from producing and directing for television and movies, to writing books and scripts. He ran the Russo-American project of Sesame Street that aired on Russian television, co-authored several criminal detective novels and wrote scripts for films including: Ego, Dancing Queen and The Admirer.

To further celebrate the festivals 10^th Anniversary, Russian Resurrection is excited to be featuring a special retrospective from award winning director Valery Todorovsky which will showcase of some of his best films. From the poignant The Land of the Deaf to the musical Hipsters, there is something for everyone in this brilliant retrospective.

“The program for this year is bursting with quality Russian films and a vast selection to suit an array of cinematic tastes. The decade anniversary of the Russian Resurrection will be celebrated with a program bigger and better than ever including Australian and world premiere films and two retrospective programs,” says festival director Nicholas Maksymow.

Join us in kicking off our 10th birthday celebrations, with a special screening of THE GEOGRAPHER, followed by the official after party including live entertainment from The International Party Band, food & drinks. Plus special opening night guests Director of Legend No.17Nikolai Lebedev and lead actress Svetlana Ivanova.

Friday 26 July – Palace Centro Cinemas

6:45pm screening, followed by after party

Tickets $45 Movie Club | $50 General Admission

Festival highlights include:

The Snow Queen is an animated Russian fairy-tale. The film was a box office hit taking in USD 8.8 million, with more than 1,400,000 admissions in Russia and Ukraine in December 2012. The evil Snow Queen has blanketed the world in ice and set out to destroy all art. A young girl embarks on a journey across the icy wonderland, facing difficult obstacles and finding new friends on her quest to set her brother free, defeat the Snow Queen and warm the hearts of people everywhere. The film features music written by Emmy-nominated composter Mark Wilcott.

A Long and Happy Life is dramatic Russian cinema at its best. A city boy turned farmer decides to help his fellow villagers´ plight to protect their land from the state. But getting caught up in someone else´s fight could end up costing him everything. Powerful, modern storytelling from the director (Boris Hlebnikov) of Free Floating and The Roads to Koktebel.

In a world of hedonism and glamour, Soulless is a story of Max, a 29-year-old international banker who is absolutely sure about his success and happiness. Everything he does revolves around earning and spending money. He lives a life of expensive cars, nightclubs, models, parties and drugs, until one girl changes his perspective on life. From this point everything around and inside him, starts to change.

Melodrama This is What’s Happening to me follows a father, who has nothing to live for and for whom, nothing can be done; and an ambitious young 15-year-old girl.  This is a bittersweet lyrical tale, set to the music of Tariverdiev (Irony of Fate – a 1970s Soviet cult classic); remembering the good old days, a time when the “irony of fate” could literally comfort and reassure oneself for a new and happy life in the new year.

Love with an Accent is passionate and effervescent, mature and ruthless, naive and outrageous. This deliciously optimistic, multi-strandedromantic comedy is fast-paced and full of dramatic turmoil. The various plotlines are interwoven into one great ironic comedy about true love that knows no borders, no laws and no nationalities.

Gentlemen of Fortune is a modern remake of the classic Soviet comedy. A children’s party entertainer, Lesha Treshkin (Bezrukov), is recruited by an attractive police officer to pose as the notorious gangster Smiley (also Bezrukov) because he looks remarkably like him. Treshkin must lead Smiley’s criminal accomplices on a daring escape and through a series of misadventure in Egypt as the merry gang desperately try to return to Russia. The three escapees become good friends, but when the real Smiley breaks out of jail, all hell breaks loose.

Website: www.russianresurrection.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Russian-Resurrection-Film-Festival/127699903951629

Palace Cinemas: http://www.palacecinemas.com.au/festivals/10thanniversaryrussianresurrection/