A film was shown where Puskepalis plays a kind NKVD commissar

The film “Maria. Save Moscow” by Vera Storozheva. It is based on a legend according to which in 1941 Stalin met with the old woman Matrona of Moscow, who told him how to save himself from the enemy approaching the city with the help of a miraculous icon. The role of the NKVD commissar was played by Sergei Puskepalis.

The actor died in a car accident on September 20, and on the 21st, the picture with his participation was awarded in Smolensk with an award named after the poet Alexander Tvardovsky for an extraordinary approach to the military theme.

The main role of the priest’s daughter, who renounced her father, who became a devoted employee of the NKVD, was played by the beautiful actress Maria Lugovaya. It was her heroine who was given the task of delivering to Moscow a miraculous icon from the town occupied by the Germans, where she was born and raised, in order to then fly around the capital with this shrine by plane.

The girl receives a responsible task directly from her boss, who was played by Sergey Puskepalis. He is like a father here, a kind and warm-hearted employee of the unit, whom everyone was afraid of. The picture was awarded a prize to them. Tvardovsky, who was born in the Smolensk province, and all other awards of the festival bear the names of fellow countrymen. The prize was given to the producer of the film “Maria. Save Moscow” Natalya Ivanova. It was in Smolensk that she, along with Vera Glagoleva, accepted awards for their joint films One War and Two Women, filmed near Smolensk in the village of Novospasskoye on the estate of composer Mikhail Glinka.

Director Vera Storozheva at a tragic moment spoke about friendship and joint film projects with Sergei Puskepalis: “We worked with him for fifteen years. Sergei starred in almost every of my films, played both major and very small roles, but it was always bright, with full dedication and creative complicity.

For a small role in the film “Maria. Save Moscow,” he took it very seriously. When the picture had to be presented, to participate in promotions, it was he who went with me to the radio, television, went to festivals, and this despite his enormous employment. At a time when the performers of the main roles for various reasons refused.

He was the first to rush from Yaroslavl to Moscow for our premiere and joked: “The role is small, but I behave as if I played the main one.” He was a devoted friend. For me, this is an irreplaceable loss. There is no other such artist and comrade. He did not lie either in life or on the screen. And this is a special case when fame has not distorted human nature.

Vera Storozheva recalls that the 3rd season of “Cipher” was invented specifically for Sergei Puskepalis, and therefore the scene is Kavminvody, where his house, built in Zheleznovodsk, is located, and where his wife Elena lives. “Sergei was happy about this, he brought fruits from his garden to the set,” recalls Vera Storozheva. He was loved by both the group and the extras, which were recruited from local residents.

Svetlana Nemolyaeva received an award named after the actor Anatoly Papanov for her filigree work in the short film Gogol-Mogol by Alexander Kott. Her heroine sits in a restaurant with her son, who does not pay much attention to his mother, and tries to switch him from endless phone calls with business partners to simple human things. And here the intonation is so important, which the actress subtly caught.

The award was presented to Svetlana Nemolyaeva in absentia by the writer and screenwriter Arkady Inin. He remembered Anatoly Papanov, who starred in the film “Fathers and Grandfathers” by Yuri Yegorov. The script was written by Inin, and the picture was shot in Smolensk, where you are immediately shown the street in the city center where the shooting took place.

Arkady Inin told how Papanov was a shy person, and this despite his incredible popularity. According to Inin, he went through the war, was wounded and managed to save a pure soul in a catastrophe that burns out everything human in a person.

The Audience Choice Award, named after another compatriot and People’s Artist of the USSR Lyudmila Kasatkina, was awarded to Igor Kopylov’s Sky. The heroes of the film, shot in the patriotic traditions of our time, are sent to a military base in Syria. The main role was played by Igor Petrenko. His hero – a professional military man – independently decides to fly to the combat zone. And the wife – she was played by Maria Mironova – is not the first to know about this. A real man decides everything himself, not considering it necessary to consult with loved ones. Probably, in another time, this film, more than modest in terms of artistic result, would not have evoked such a response from the audience, but in the days when everyone was waiting for the announcement of mobilization, it hit a nerve.

The Yuri Gagarin debut award went to the St. Petersburg actress, and now director Tatyana Kolganova. She confidently and professionally shot Delayed Happiness Syndrome and is already working on her second film. “Yuri Alekseevich is the first person to conquer outer space,” says the debutante. “I made my first cinematic spacewalk with my debut film.”

Not far from Smolensk is the city of Gagarin, formerly Gzhatsk, closely associated with the family of the first cosmonaut. He was born in the village of Klushino, Gzhatsk district, and the house where he spent his youth is located in Gagarin. Across the road is the house of his parents, similar to many other houses and apartments of Soviet people. So the name of the prize is also not accidental.

The employees of the museum complex amaze with their enthusiasm, knowledge and culture. It is a pity that not everyone knows about the existence of this museum. It is not the first day that museum workers have been struggling with one problem and cannot solve it on their own. A cedar from the homeland of cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, planted in honor of the 25th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, is dying. It just dries, and what to do with it is not clear. Calls for help came to nothing. It would be nice if the festival brought its guests to Gagarin and thereby drew attention to this wonderful place. Then intercessors would have been found for the cedar and the invaluable museum work in general.