Norsk filminstitutt

A drama about a Russian police plot to steal a billion dollars from a US financier and murder his faithful tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, turns into a real life investigation of contradicting versions of the crime.

What started as a drama about a Russian police plot to steal a billion dollars from a US financier and to murder his faithful tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, has become a real life investigation of contradicting versions of the crime. The Magnitsky Case is central for the policy of blacklisting bad guys from Putin's Russia (Magnitsky List), which was then adopted by the West in retaliation for Russia's actions in Ukraine. Shockingly for the film's director, dissident and Putin basher Andrei Nekrasov, the official Western story turns out to have serious flaws.

Production and distribution

Production Year:
2016
Production country:
Norway
Co production country:
Germany
Denmark
Finland
Release date (national):
2016-06-25
Release date (international):
2016-06-28
Production company:
Piraya Film AS
Co production company:
Wingman Media ApS
Illume OY
Producer:
Torstein Grude
Co producer:
Peter Engel
Pertti Veijaleinen
Venla Hellstedt

Director

  • Andrei Nekrasov

    Andrei Lvovich Nekrasov (b. 1958, St. Petersburg), studied acting and directing at the State Institute for Theater and Film in St Petersburg. He studied comparative literature and philosophy at the University of Paris, and film at Bristol University Film School. In 1985, he assisted Andrei Tarkovsky during the filming and editing of The Sacrifice. Nekrasov then made several internationally co-produced documentaries and TV arts programs (notably A Russia of Ones Own, Pasternak, The Prodigal Son, and Childrens Stories: Chechnya). His first dramatic short, Springing Lenin (1993) won the UNESCO prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and in 1997 his first feature, Love Is As Strong as Death won the FIPRESCI prize at Mannheim-Heidelberg. His second feature, Lubov and Other Nightmares (2001) won recognition at a great number of festivals all over the world (including Sundance and Berlin) and confirmed his status as a rebel among Russian filmmakers. Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case presents interviews with assassinated former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

    Nekrasov is also a playwright and a theater director. His German productions (of his own plays) include: Der Spieler (The Gambler) at the Euro Theater Central in Bonn and Koenigsberg at the Volksbuehne Theatre in Berlin.

     

    Selected filmography:

    Andrei Nekrasov

Cast

Himself:
Andrei Nekrasov
Magnitsky:
Evgeniy Lunchenko
Karpov:
Gennadii Popenko
Kuznetsov:
Alexander Berezhok
Magnitsky’s wife:
Yekaterina Bashkina
Herself:
Marieluise Beck
Himself:
Bill Browder
Herself:
Nataliya Magnitskaya
Herself:
Maria Sannikova-Franck
Himself:
Andreas Gross
Himself:
Pavel Karpov
Himself:
Andrey Pavlov
Himself:
Pavel Lapshov

Awards

2016:
Nominated for Prix Europa - Best TV Documentary
2016:
Special Commendation - Prix Europa TV Documentary
2017:
International Festival Signes de Nuit
Student Jury's Grand Prix
2018:
Festival Internacional Signos de la Noche - Tucumán
Night Award

Festivals

2016:
Moscow International Film Festival
2016:
Love & Anarchy - Helsinki International Film Festival
2016:
Nordisk Panorama
2016:
BIFF - Bergen International Film Festival
2017:
Tampere Film Festival
2017:
International Festival Signes de Nuit
2018:
Festival Internacional Signos de la Noche - Tucumán

Crew

Director:
Andrei Nekrasov
Screenplay:
Andrei Nekrasov
Torstein Grude
Cinematographer:
Tore Vollan
Torstein Grude
Joona Pettersson
Editor:
Philipp Gromov
Composer:
Karsten Fundal
Sound Design:
Peter Albrechtsen

Technical information

Genre:
Society & Politics
Format:
DCP 2k
Screen ratio:
1:1,77
Colour:
Colour
Sound format:
Stereo 5.1
Length in min's:
125'
Language:
English
German
Russian
Subtitles:
English

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