Arthouse tragicomedy by Anton Bilzho “Swan Lake”

“The film is bright, extraordinary, somewhere unexpected. I haven’t seen such pictures for a long time, unformatted” – this is a short but capacious summary of one of the guests of the premiere of the painting “Swan Lake”.

On September 15, Anton Bilzho’s art-house tragicomedy “Swan Lake” will be released on the wide screen of Russian cinemas. On August 19, a special screening of the tape took place in the capital’s cinema “KARO 11 October” as part of the KARO project. Art.

“Swan Lake” is a new extraordinary project – a collaboration between director Anton Bilzho and producer tandem Olga Tsirsen and Asya Temnikova. It was this trio and other members of the film crew who presented the film to the guests of the premiere.

The role of the governor in the film was played by actor Igor Yatsko, and many roles were played by “non-media” or non-professional actors.

“I wanted the people who participate in the production of Swan Lake inside the film, being non-professional dancers, to just live inside this theater, to be themselves, so we tried not to give them any acting tasks, but just watch them, watch them behind a gradually developing setting. Hence a large number of improvisations and all sorts of interesting unexpected moments that the audience will see in the film, ”said Anton Bilzho, adding that he wanted to“ reflect on what it is to accept a life that seems chaotic, violating established rules and standards.

According to the plot, the governor of a provincial town asks his wife to stage his favorite folk ballet, Swan Lake, and to revive the long-closed regional theater, which should serve as good PR for his upcoming elections. But it turns out that Swan Lake is also a ballet about two worlds. Trying to fulfill her husband’s order, the governor’s wife breaks out of the boundaries of the estate and the regulated world. In the city, she encounters “ordinary people” unknown to her, sleeping swans.

“I am a ballerina in the past, and we have been discussing a ballet-themed project for a long time. Of course, Swan Lake is not about ballet at all, but about more complex things, ”comments Olga Tsirsen, producer of the film and starring in the main role of the governor’s wife.

“We tell our story as a tragicomedy, this genre is now rare, modern directors hardly turn to it. The film has many semantic layers that will gradually open up to the viewer, and a lot of subtle humor,” adds producer Asya Temnikova.

Filming of the tape took place in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The estate of the governor’s family was “played” by the Stroganov-Golitsyn estate Maryino, 70 kilometers from St. Petersburg, the theater was revived in an old abandoned church, the streets of a provincial town were filmed in Gatchina.

“Our heroine, the governor’s wife, includes in her Swan Lake everyone who wanted to join the beautiful, regardless of age, physical condition, gender, and even more so professional level. In the same way, we went down the path of inclusiveness, opening the doors to the film to many who, as it seemed to us, wanted to prove themselves. And by the way, there are not only people in the film, but also, for example, a beetle, a dog, a horse, a fish, and, of course, several types of birds,” director Anton Bilzho summarizes the work on the project.

The incredible play of the actors involved in the production, the colorful Russian nature, the unique plot, the author’s direction, the bizarre play of meanings, the careful attention to detail and the powerful soundtrack create on the screen the effect of the viewer’s complete immersion in what is happening on the verge of an immersive theater. And this will definitely arouse interest in the painting “Swan Lake” by Anton Bilzho.

The film has already received its well-deserved awards at the festivals “Amur Autumn”, “Moscow Premiere”, “Alafeiskaya Gora”. On September 15, Swan Lake will be released by the Cinemaus Studio film company and viewers across the country will be able to appreciate the film.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo by Evgeny Dashkevich