On December 15th, within OIFF Winter Film Market, FILM.UA Group presented its theatrical releases for 2016-2017. Feature films "The Stronghold" and "Polina" and animated feature projects "The Stolen Princess" and "Mavka. The Forest Song" were presented to the participants of the market.
"We consider cinema industry, first of all, as a business, and the process of filmmaking - as an industry that can and should give people work and fill the state budget. Therefore, we work on those stories, that can and must not only to attract the audience and rule the box office, but also to prove that Ukrainian cinema can be popular and understandable to the general audience, not only in our country but throughout the world", - said Polina Tolmacheva, PR and Marketing director of FILM.UA Group.
THE STRONGHOLD
The Stronghold is an adventure fantasy about the first Ukrainian superheroes. The film is based on the eponymous book by Vladimir Rutkovsky. The release is scheduled for the end of 2016.
Synopsis: The father of 14-year-old Viktor gets in trouble, and the boy is the only one to save him from the reprisal of the real gangsters. Vitya records the proofs of his father’s innocence and then runs away, hiding from his pursuers in a cave. However, he doesn’t even suspect that he’ll soon engage in real time travel! Viktor finds himself in… Kiev Rus, in the very midst of Slavs and Cumans fighting to liberate the Outpost.
"In our opinion, this story carries a very strong and right message for the younger generation. Plus it has lots of adventures, famous heroes, fantasy and love...It was clear that this material can make out into a great movie, - says the film's producer Egor Olesov. - First of all, we wanted to create a film that will have a big audince, that will make people emotionally accept, empathize and love our protagonists. Therefore, we have defined for ourselves the main points: a fascinating plot, strong actors, textured costumes and scenery. And of course the visual effects and computer graphics, without which it is difficult to imagine modern movies of this genre".
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Members of the initiative group #KіnoKraina and StarLightMedia, as well as the State Film Agency also take part in the production. The release of "The Stronghold" is scheduled for the end of 2016. The film is intended for a broad family audience
Director: Yuriy Kovayov
Director of Photography: Yuriy Korol
Cast: Daniil Kamensky (Victor), Eva Koshevaya (Olenka), Roman Lutsky (Oleshko), Oleg Voloshchenko (Illya), Georgiy Derevyansky (grandfather Ovsiy), Stanislava Krasovskaya (Rosanka), Natalia Sumskaya (Milanka), Alexander Komarov (Dobrinja), Yerzhan Nurymbetov (Andak), Erbolat Toguzak (Shaman) and Ivan Denisenko (Tugarin)
Production: Kinorob
Running time: 85 min
Producers: Egor Olesov, Yuriy Prylypko
Premiere: 2016
POLINA
The film is produced by Belgian WILD TRIBE FILMS and Ukrainian FILM.UA. Director and author of the film is Olias Barco, whose short film ‘Poubelles’ won the Golden award in the Cannes ‘Critics Week’. Director of Photography, Thierry Arbogast, is noted for his long-time collaboration with French director Luc Besson, having worked as DOP on the films ‘Leon', ‘The Fifth Element', and most recently, the international smash, ‘Lucy'. Release is scheduled for Autumn 2016.
Synopsis: Polina is an adventure fantasy for the whole family. It follows a young girl - Polina - who sets out on a magical journey in search of the truth about her lost parents.
"I cherished the idea of the film for a long time, but only after I found the heroine, Polina, in Kiev, I started writing on the script, and finally formed all the other characters. For example, I saw Virginie Ledoyen in one of the key roles, and was very pleased that she liked the film, and was able to join us, - says the film's director Olias Barco. - And many more characters were written off my wonderful friends and acquaintances from Kiev. I know Miroslav Slaboshpytsky, who is a brilliant director, as well as a terrific singer and actress Jamala, so asked them to appear in the film - this is my tribute to incredible talents of Ukraine".
Director: Olias Barco
Director of Photography: Thierry Arbogast
Cast: Polina Pechenenko, Saul Rubinek, Severiya Yanushauskayte, Virginie Ledoyen, Edouard Baer, Vasily Virastjuk, Yana Novikova, Evnika Saadvakass, Miroslav Slaboshpytsky, Jamala
Production: FILM.UA, WILD TRIBE FILMS
Running time: 100 min
Producers: Olias Barco, Denis Ivanov, Egor Olesov, Yuriy Prilipko
Premiere: 2016
THE STOLEN PRINCESS
Participants of the film markets screened an exclusive two-minute cut of working materials. Also, it was stated that Novy channel acquired the TV rights to animated feature film "The Stolen Princess". The pre-sale of an animated project at such an early stage of production is a unique experience for Ukrainian market. The film will premiere on Novy Channel six months after its theatrical release.
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"Now the production process has reached its active stage. Work on the script and characters' Bible is completed, work continues on the animation of the approved scenes, - says Egor Olesov, producer of the project. We have already shown our project in Los Angeles at American Film Market, and even at this early stage it has attracted sufficient attention of colleagues and potential distributors. We believe that this animated film will succeed in international markets".
Synopsis: This breathtaking story happened in times of valiant knights, beautiful princesses and sorcerers. Fate had it for a young traveling bard Ruslan to meet the King’s daughter Mila. In spite of different social standings our heroes has found a lot to discuss and to share and shortly fell in love. But their happiness couldn’t last long because Mila was magically kidnapped by Chernomor the sorcerer.
Running time: 100 minutes.
Production: Animagrad, FILM.UA
Director: Oleg Malamuzh
Producer: Egor Olesov
Scriptwriter: Jaroslav Voytseshek
Script Consultant: Andrew Hilton
Premiere: 2017
"The Stolen Princess" is the first project of Animagrad's series of animated feature film releases. The studio is also working on the production of such animated feature films as "Mavka. The Forest Song" (2018), "Snow Republic" (2019), "Robinson" (2020) and "Roksolana" (2021).
MAVKA. THE FOREST SONG
Animated feature film based on the play by Lesia Ukrainka "Mavka. The Forest Song" was also presented at the market. Release is scheduled for 2018, film is produced by Animagrad studio. Participants of the market also learned about the strategy of non-standard marketing communications that will help make this project one big event.
"The combination of the modern and the eternal, pure Slavic and universal, love story and humor, action and fantasy - should work out and make the project unique. Our images are not similar to any other in the animation and the story is very original. That is why there will be interested viewers worldwide. Mavka is our unique and luxurious fairy tale character, and she deserves the same remarkable embodiment and love of the audiences around the world, as, in its time, Rapunzel, Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, Snow White and other heroines of the fairy tales and legends, immortalized in popular cartoons", - says Irina Kostyuk.
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Synopsis: This is a story about love: the love between Mavka, the young guardian and mistress of the forest, and a simple village blacksmith named Lukash. The two protagonists come from such different worlds - one from the world of magic and nature and the other from the world of everyday human grind – that their happiness seems doomed from the start. But love overcomes all obstacles and conventions, uniting these sweethearts.
Production: Animagrad, FILM.UA
Producers: Egor Olesov, Irina Kostyuk, Anna Eliseeva
Scriptwriter: Sakhar +1kg
Premiere: 2018
