Evgenia Milova about the social events of the week

Last week, social life completely abandoned the holiday relaxation. Some movements had taken place before, although the well-known party in “Mutabor” should have forced many to stop and think hard about their behavior. The “Cries of Time” concert at the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities turned out to be a trial secular ball. Various people came to listen to Schnittke: Anna Antimony, Daniil Berg, Nikolai Remchukov, Irina Tchaikovskaya. More unexpected was the line-up of co-producers of the concert: Anton Krasovsky, Andrey Klishas and the White Rabbit Family company.

I had already imagined that classical music concerts would be the only possible scenario for social evenings, but then Phantom appeared. The opening of Anton Pinsky’s first restaurant this year was visited not only by the administrators of Telegram channels, but also by Alexander Novak and his family, Andrey Guryev, Sati and Vladimir Spivakov, Ksenia Sobchak, Dmitry Kiselev, Anna Melikyan. We celebrated for two days. It must be borne in mind that the entire restaurant is built around “the largest oven in the country.” Professor Woland, who arrived from Germany, would certainly have appreciated such an idea if he had decided to check what issues, besides housing issues, are spoiling Muscovites today.

Further, speaking metaphorically, the entire available secular cast was put at the disposal of that force that always wants evil, but does good – the premiere of Mikhail Lokshin’s film “The Master and Margarita” took place. The red carpet was graced by Kesha’s cat, who played Hippopotamus. Not only the film participants, but also guests, for example Pavel Lungin, took pictures with him. The actor who voiced the cat, Yura Borisov, was much more modest. Evgeny Tsyganov quietly said that he wanted to go home as soon as possible. Yulia Snigir, on the contrary, shone as if this premiere was launching the worldwide box office, as planned. Such signs of former times as Cartier jewelry on Margarita and Leonard Blavatnik in a cameo role remained uncut from the film. After the premiere, the film, like any bright phenomenon, was criticized by the public, which considers itself patriotic, but this time it was not canceled – the film became the box office leader in the first weekend.

Next, at the Five Stars on Smolenskaya cinema, there was an hour and a half video presentation of the film “Freedom” directed by Evgeny Lavrentyev. In general, the director is now working with the support of the Internet Development Institute and the Kurchatov Institute on the series “Berlin Heat”. Probably, in order not to burn out, Mr. Lavrentiev is simultaneously working on the film “Freedom” with an eye on festivals. “This absurdist social comedy looks with irony and love at the excessively free human flutters,” the author formulates his plan. Guests were treated to champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries. Along with the film crew at the presentation were the President of the Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk and his wife, General Director of the NPF Blagosostoyanie Anatoly Milyukov, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, President of IMEMO RAS Alexander Dynkin, Dean of the Faculty of International Energy Business of the University of Oil and Gas Elena Telegina, film producer Michael Schlicht and head of the Russkoe film company Irina Smirnova.

The week ended with the presentation of the Golden Eagle Award with the support of the jewelry company Mercury. In recent years, this ceremony at Mosfilm has literally set timekeeping records – being shortened to everyone’s delight. But this year we had to move away from the main scenario. Vladimir Medinsky read out a telegram from the President of Russia. In recent years, this was done by the head of the Ministry of Culture Olga Lyubimova, but this evening she, together with Anna Yalova and Boris Piotrovsky, opened the exhibition “Hero City Leningrad” in the St. Petersburg Manege. Mr. Medinsky was invited to present a special “Golden Eagle” to Karen Shakhnazarov and Mosfilm, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. Mr. Shakhnazarov said that when he came to Mosfilm in the 1970s, he found here a unique creative atmosphere and the flourishing of domestic cinema, which modern cinema is still far from achieving. This is where everyone should go home. But it was necessary to present the “Eagle” to Yulia Peresild as the first actress-cosmonaut and the prize for the leading female role to Anna Mikhalkova for the film “Anna’s Feelings.” “In this film I showed everything! And I am grateful to everyone who watched this film, and to everyone who did not!” — Mrs. Mikhalkova sparkled with her eyes and the 44-carat diamond in her necklace. Another “Eagle” was urgently needed to be awarded to Ivan Yankovsky. This year, his rivals in the category “Best Actor in a TV Series” were himself and his father, Philip Yankovsky. It is difficult to predict whether next year film academics will celebrate The Master and Margarita (after all, not a single Yankovsky played there), but Professor Woland could definitely note nepotism as the main bond of Russian cinema: Anka Peresild, the young star of A Boy’s Words, took part in the ceremony “, and Maryana Spivak, winner in the nomination “Best Actress of a TV Series” for “Black Cloud”, at the end of the ceremony, went to take a photo with the statuette in front of the portrait of her grandmother, People’s Artist of the RSFSR Zhanna Prokhorenko.

Evgenia Milova, Kommersant columnist