Russia to shoot series about Ukraine war

the screenplay synopsis says.

The series will consist of four episodes and will particularly focus on the hostilities in Mariupol.

The series will be directed by Andrey Simonov, 38. Bubblegum Production is most known for its controversial series Sleepers that tells a story about so-called sleeper agents in the Russian liberal opposition ranks. After the final product was released, the director said that he had “betrayed the whole progressive generation that wanted to change something”.

Andrey Kretov, co-founder of Bubblegum Production, told Novaya-Europe that the series will not be similar to Crimea, a movie shot by Alexey Pimanov where the 2014 Crimea annexation events are shown through the prism of a relationship between a Kyiv journalist and a pro-Russian man from the peninsula.

“I hope this is the only similarity,” Kretov said. He claims that their interpretation of the Ukraine war is “completely neutral”.

“The story will be shown from two sides: Ukraine and Russia. The positions will be clearly outlined: what a regular army, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, nationalist battalions, and so on are. This is a huge difference that no one explains. You need to be there and speak to the people there to understand it,” the Bubblegum Production co-founder noted.

According to him, the shooting will also take place in Moscow and Mariupol in summer.

“Last year, we went to Mariupol, touched everything with our own hands, had a look, spoke to locals, doctors, and only then decided to go through with this project. Almost all characters are real people with real stories. The only invented characters are the main ones: the student and his girlfriend,” Kretov explains.

The series creators also want to roll out a shortened cinematic version. They refused to disclose the budget.

This is not Russia’s first attempt to take the Ukraine war to the screens. Reports emerged last autumn that shooting for a movie entitled Musician was underway in Russia’s Yaroslavl region. According to 76.ru, the film tells the story of violinist Daniel Cohen who was in Ukraine when the war broke out.

“The movie is directed with support from the Russian Culture Ministry and the Russian Defence Ministry,” 76.ru wrote.

However, the Musician film crew did not prepare as much for the shooting as their 20/22 counterparts: the Tver city authorities had to suspend shooting after military hardware with Ukrainian flags rocked up in the city which caused fear and panic among the locals. The Culture Ministry later reported that the production will resume but in a different location.