Real cinema, celebrities and crazy plans

On the first day of Odesa International Film Festival to take place on December 12-14 in Cinema Citi (Kyiv), FILM.UA Group will present a line-up of theatrical projects to go into wide Ukrainian release in 2019.

The presentation titled “FILM.UA Group: Real cinema, celebrities and crazy plans” includes historical action feature The Rising Hawk, historical thriller Gareth Jones, adventure fantasy Polina and sports drama The Pulse.

The first project to be presented to the guests is the most awaited premiere of the following year, a wide-scale historical action feature The Rising Hawk directed by Akhtem Seitablayev and based on a novella with the same title by Ivan Franko. The film’s wide Ukrainian release, after its production by Kinorob and Cinema Day with the support of Ukrainian State film Agency, is planned for October 10, 2019 by UFD; the general media partner and broadcaster is Ukraina TV channel. During the presentation, film market participants will see the first teaser premiered in theatres and digitally just a little while ago as well as an exclusive video about work on the project. Besides, PR and marketing director at FILM.UA Group Polina Tolmachova will tell about a wide-scale promotion campaign for the film.

Just a reminder: the work on The Rising Hawk filmed this summer featured an international team of experts from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. The lead roles in the film were played by Alex MacNicoll (Maksym Berkut), Robert Patrick (Zakhar Berkut), Tommy Flanagan (Tuhar Vovk), Poppy Drayton (Myroslava), Tsegmid Tserenbold (Burunda), Andriy Isayenko (Petro), Oleg Voloschenko (Gard), Yerzhan Nurymbet (Merke), Alina Kovalenko (Rosana), Viktor Zhdanov (Khorun), and others. John Wynn was a co-director for Akhtem Seitablayev. The film producers from the American side were Jeff Rice, Yuriy Karnovsky, and Rajah Collins.

The following big premiere of FILM.UA Group is Gareth Jones historical thriller by a world-known director Agnieszka Holland jointly produced by Poland  (Film Produkcja with the support of Polish Film Institute), Ukraine (Kinorob with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency), and the UK (Boy Jones Films). UFD plans wide Ukrainian release of the film in autumn 2019, and the general media partner and broadcaster is Ukraina TV channel. The presentation guests will see the thriller’s promo video and also find out about the plans of a wide-scale promo campaign for the film and cultural raising awareness project of the Group dedicated to the personality of Gareth Jones in Ukraine and the world.  

Gareth Jones historical thriller is a real story of a young Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who went to the Soviet Union in 1933 to uncover and bring the world the truth about the crimes of Stalin’s regime and the Famine in Ukraine. What seemed a regular journalist investigation at first turned into a deadly dangerous journey the discoveries of which became the basis for an allegorical novel Animal Farm by George Orwell.  

The lead roles in the film were played by James Norton (War and Peace, Happy Valley, MacMafia), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Hobbs and Shaw), and Peter Sarsgaard (Jackie, The Magnificent Seven, An Education). Besides, the team was joined by Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) and Kenneth Cranham (Maleficent, Valkyrie), and from the Ukrainian side the participants were Yakiv Tkachenko (Pryputni), Oleg Drach (Battle for Sevastopol, Prayer for Hetman Mazepa), Volodymyr Fedoruk, Anna Shaydyuk, Anastasia Chala, and Alina Kovalska.

Besides, during the presentation the Ukrainian premiere date for adventure fantasy Polina will be announced; it was directed by Olias Barco and jointly produced by Kinorob (Ukraine) and WILD TRIBE FILMS (Belgium, France) with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency. The presentation guests will be the first ones to see the film’s official poster and first trailer; their theatrical and digital premiere will take place in the nearest future. The film is widely released in Ukraine by UFD. Just a reminder: the filming of Polina fantasy feature took place in Ukraine, in autumn 2015. The lead roles were played by Polina Artemenko, Jean Reno, Virginie Ledoyen, Edouard Baer, Vasyl Virastyuk, Evnika Saadvakass, Severija Janusauskaite, and others.  The film’s cameraman was Thierry Arbogast known for his many years of cooperation with Luc Besson.

Besides, the film market participants will be presented a sports drama Pulse directed by Sergiy Chebotarenko; its filming will commence in spring 2019. The film plot is based on a real story of Oksana Boturchuk, a Ukrainian track and field athlete, Paralympic champion of 2008, five-time silver and bronze medalist of Paralympics in 2008, 2012 and 2016.  The film premiere is planned for autumn 2019.

Besides, the head of FILM.UA sponsorship projects Yulia Pylypenko will tell the guests about successful experience of cooperation with sponsors and possibilities of product placement in cinema using a real case, Crazy Wedding comedy which hit the biggest box office among Ukrainian films of 2018.