In Kyiv, filming of an eight-episode criminal drama Hide and Seek started; it is scheduled to last until the end of January 2019. This film belongs to a complex genre: the authors define it as a criminal drama with elements of a noir detective and a thriller.
The plot revolves around children disappearing without a trace in a small industrial town. Young investigators, Varta Naumova and Maksim Shumov, will have to find the kidnapped boys and girls and pin down the criminal. Along with that, they have own “demons” to deal with. And there are only 13 days left for it all…
The project is directed by Irina Gromozda; the DOP is Sergey Krutko and the screenwriter is Aleksandr Protsyuk. The cast includes Yulia Abdel Fattakh, Pyotr Rykov, Vyacheslav Dovzhenko, Yakov Kucherevsky, Aleksandr Kobzar, Valeriy Legin, Yevgenia Gladiy, Aleksandr Sokolov, Vladimir Zayets, and others. The producers are Viktor Mirsky, Olesya Lukyanenko and Andrey Rizvanyuk.
Project director Irina Gromozda says: “The story is centered around several families where children are kidnapped. The kidnapper is not just a villain; he is infected with the so-called surrogate vengeance. He vents his suppressed anger not on a specific offender but on the society in general. In parallel, the stories of investigators Varta and Shumov will be told. They are opposites and make up a universal team together. Each of them has been traumatized, and during the story their pain will surface.”
The series raises very deep issues, and the complicated genre and challenging topic puts truly fascinating creative tasks in front of the authors. To solve them, they select certain actors and color schemes for the film; they also carefully work with locations and build sets especially for the project.
According to the director, the deciding factor during the casting was the internal resemblance of the character and the actor.
“As soon as I saw the auditions of Yulia Abdel Fattakh I understood we have found Varta. She does not play anything, it is as if the script has been written for her,”- says Irina Gromozda. “Petya Rykov is a wonderful actor with incredible charisma. Boyish attractiveness and internal dignity – you can find all that in Pyotr.”
Besides, well-known masters of the cinema will also play in the film: they are Vyacheslav Dovzhenko, Aleksandr Kobzar, and Yakov Kucherevsky.
The filming will take place in many Kyiv locations as well as in one of the FILM.UA studio pavilions.
“In the pavilion, we are building several objects. First of all, this is the apartment a girl mysteriously disappears from,” says Olesya Lukyanenko, creative producer. “We need an apartment with specific layout where the camera can move from one room to another without obstacles, following the girl who plays hide-and-seek. The police station where a third of the whole story takes place will also be built in the pavilion. We decided to build it because we need certain layout and color scheme as well as a place where we can film any time of the day.”
Most outdoor filming will take place in Energodar, Zaporizhya region. This is an industrial city, big and deserted, with open spaces; it was selected by the series author for its alienated ambience serving as a very expressive background for the narration. It is hard to hide here but at the same time people are completely invisible which serves the kidnapper well.
The style of Hide and Seek is truly unique. This is a captivating noir story told slowly and in a scarily realistic way. It is a thriller where children mysteriously disappear, and the city is taken with panic. Hide and Seek continues the traditions of renowned Scandinavian noir films, and Varta sometimes reminds of Saga Norén from The Bridge and Robin Griffin from Top of the Lake in her actions and decisions.
We wish the best of luck to the film crew and will keep you updated about the events on the set.
Producers: Viktor Mirsky, Olesya Lukyanenko, Andrey Rizvanyuk
Director: Irina Gromozda
DOP: Sergey Krutko
Screenwriter: Aleksandr Protsyuk
Artistic director: Aleksandr Batenev
Cast: Yulia Abdel Fattakh, Pyotr Rykov, Vyacheslav Dovzhenko, Yakov Kucherevsky, Aleksandr Kobzar, Valeriy Legin, Yevgenia Gladiy, Aleksandr Sokolov, Vladimir Zayets, and others.
