Films A to Z
Rossiya 88
- Runtime:
- 104 min.
- Year of Production:
- 2008
- Country:
- Russische Föderation
- Director:
- Cast:
- Mikhail Polyakov
Nikolai Machulsky
Andrey Merzlikin
Anton Kuznetsov
Archibald Archibaldovich
Ivan Ignatenko
Yelena Tokmakova-Gorbushkina
Marina Orel
Alexander Makarov
Mikhail Pavlik
Kazbek Kibizov
Vera Strokova
Petr Barancheev
Petr Fedorov
Georgy Totibadze
Nina Fedorova
Alexander Spiridonov - Production Company:
- Plan 2 Play LLC
- Berlinale Section:
- Panorama
- Berlinale Category:
- Feature Film
A docudrama about Russian Neo-Nazis based on real events that makes use of authentic interviews. At the centre of the fictional story is a group of Moscow skinheads called “Russia 88” which makes propaganda videos and posts them on the internet. Their leader calls himself “Blade”. One day he finds out that his sister is seeing a boy from the Caucasus. Something that begins as a family drama evolves into a tragedy that is justifiably reminiscent of “Romeo and Juliet”.
Pavel Bardin’s film focuses on a phenomenon that, although largely ignored in the West, is very much a part of everyday life in Moscow. The director was able to order most of the Nazi gear worn by the film’s protagonists from an internet website. T-shirts bearing nationalistic slogans like “I’m a Russian”, or quotes from David Lane, a Nazi ideologist and the author of “Fourteen Words”, are freely available for purchase in Moscow. Even the radical rightwing songs that can be heard in the film were easily found in “Gorbushka”, a well-known media store specialising in illegal products. The texts declaimed to-camera by the balaclava-clad “Blade” originated from ultra-rightwing internet forums; in addition, the murders, pogroms and terrorist attacks mentioned in the film are not the product of the director’s fantasy – they are all to be found in police reports from Vladivostok, St. Petersburg and many other cities in Russia.
BIOGRAFIE Pavel Bardin
Born in Moscow on 10.10.1975, he studied journalism from 1992-98 and directing and screenwriting from 1998-99 at VGIK in Moscow. He has worked as a television correspondent and commissioning editor as well as a radio DJ. ROSSIYA 88 is his second
feature-length film.
FILMOGRAFIE Pavel Bardin (selection)
2008 Rossiya 88