In a unique collaboration that international movie buffs will celebrate, the Russian Film Festival will bring the best of their recent films for Indian audiences on the leading OTT platform, Disney + Hotstar. 
From October 16 to November 27, this collection of entertaining and intriguing films will play out on the platform with a focus on wide local audiences.
Ten notable Russian films of various genres will be available online, introducing films with heroes and storylines that will be relevant specifically to Indian viewers. With each film, audiences will get to see an unexplored side of Russia.
The festival brings celebrated and popular romances, dramas, and comedies from Russia. It features two musical romance movies (the genre that is well received by the Indian audience) – “Ice” by Oleg Trofim and its sequel “Ice 2” by Zhora Kryzhovnikov. “Ice,” tells about a young, ambitious figure skater Nadya who is hospitalized with an injury and gives up her championship dream until she meets a hockey player Sasha… In “Ice 2”, a happily married couple dreams about a child, but the price they pay for their dream is too high… Both films are included in the TOP 12 highest-grossing Russian films of all time.
The sports drama “On the Edge” by Eduard Bordukov is based on a true story of the 2016 Olympic Games, – the confrontation between two Russian saber fencers: Sofya Velikaya and Yana Egoyan. The historical drama “The Story of an Appointment” by Avdotya Smirnova will take viewers to an earlier period – set in the 19th century, an edgy story based on real events unfolds in this acclaimed film. One of the characters is the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The selection also includes the drama “Tell Her” by Alexander Molochnikov. This is a film about failed relationships and a child’s tough choice around divorcing parents. The biographical drama “Doctor Liza” by Oksana Karas, dedicated to the memory of Elizaveta Glinka, one of the main human rights defenders and social activists in Russia.
The festival also features comedies. A comedy absurdist drama, an adaptation of the play of the same name by Dmitry Danilov “A Man from Podolsk” – the debut of the theatre director Semyon Serzin, who also played the lead role in the Petrov’s Flu, a film of the Official Selection of the 74th Cannes Film Festival. Also, the selection of films includes the comedy “Another Woman!” by Anna Parmas. A family taking a test for strength is also in the spotlight in another film “The Relatives” by Ilya Aksyonov. A new dramedy “Jetlag” by Mikhail Idov tells a story about a couple who has a fight en route to an airport. As a result, they end up on different continents in separate love triangles, causing chaos in others’ relationships as they try to fix theirs.
All films at the Russian Film Festival will be shown with English subtitles.
The first-ever online Russian Film Festival in India is organized by ROSKINO with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Cinema Fund, the Moscow City Tourism Committee, Discover Moscow, Rossotrudnichestvo, and with the assistance of Kartina Entertainment. The festival was launched in 2020 and has already been successfully held in 14 countries, with more than 200 thousand viewers.