Aleksandr ZOLOTUKHIN
Александр ЗОЛОТУХИН
Aleksandr ZOLOTOUKHINE
Russia, 2018, 72mn 
fiction
A Russian Youth
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Мальчик русский

 

 Une jeunesse russe

 Malchik russkiy

Russian subtitle : Слухач
 
Directed by : Aleksandr ZOLOTUKHIN (Александр ЗОЛОТУХИН)
Writing credits : Aleksandr ZOLOTUKHIN (Александр ЗОЛОТУХИН)
 
Cast
Vladimir_3 KOROLEV (Владимир_3 КОРОЛЕВ) ...Alexey
Mikhail BUTURLOV (Михаил БУТУРЛОВ ) ...Nazarka
Danil TYABIN (Данил ТЯБИН )
Artiom LESHCHIK (Артем ЛЕЩИК )
Philip DIACHKOV (Филипп ДЬЯЧКОВ )
Sergey GONCHARENKO (Сергей ГОНЧАРЕНКО)
 
Cinematography : Ayrat YAMILOV (Айрат ЯМИЛОВ)
Production design : Yelena ZHUKOVA (Елена ЖУКОВА)
Editing : Tatyana KUZMICHOVA (Татьяна КУЗЬМИЧЕВА)
Produced by : Eduard PICHUGIN (Эдуард ПИЧУГИН)
Other persons :
композитор : Сергей Рахманинов / Musique : Sergueï Rachmaninov
Production : Lenfilm, Фонд «Пример интонации» / Fondation "Primer intonatsii"; Правительства Санкт-Петербурга / Mairie de Saint Pétersbourg; при поддержке Министерства культуры Российской Федерации / avec le soutien du Ministère de la Culture de la Fédération de Russie
Film revenue in Russia : 0.0154 million dollars
Spectators : 4 834
Release date in Russia : 06/02/2020
 
Site : IMDb

Awards :
Discovery of the year "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2020
Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics Prize Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2019
Best first film Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2019

Plot synopsis
A Russian soldier loses his sight during the First World War and is deployed to listen out for enemy planes at the front. Drawing on scenes of an orchestra playing Rachmaninoff, the music sets the tempo in this debut film about a generation in upheaval.
https://www.berlinale.de
 

Commentaries and bibliography
«Мальчик русский» — Безымянный пассажир ковчега, Михаил ЩУКИН, seance.ru, 2020
Aleksandr Zolotukhin: A Russian Youth (Mal’chik russkii, 2019), Birgit BEUMERS, Kinokultura, 2019
«Мальчик русский»: Мир на ощупь, Georges NIVAT, seance.ru, 2019
«Une jeunesse russe», une vision émouvante de la Première Guerre mondiale, Oxana BOBROVITCH, Sputnik, 2019
RUSSIA BEYOND : Cinq films russes sortis 2019 que vous devez à tout prix regarder, IOULIA CHAMPOROVA, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2019
Russia Beyond: Sept blockbusters historiques russes sortis en 2019 à voir au plus vite, Boris EGOROV, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2019
 
Inspired by rare color photographs from the trenches of World War I (as well as Kinemacolor, an early technique used to color film), the story of a teenage soldier is accompanied by contemporary sequences from a concert hall, where an orchestra is rehearsing two pieces by Rachmaninoff: Piano Concert No. 3, Op. 30 (1909); and Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1940). What connects the old to the modern is the thread of listening intently to history, just as Rachmaninov did, as an émigré artist caught up in revolution and two wars. But the dramatic sounds of the war symphony are also listened to by the eponymous “youth” (Vladimir Korolev), a 15-year-old who had only just enlisted when he lost his sight following a German mustard-gas attack. The army employs the blind peasant boy to listen to gigantic tubes that enable him to catch sounds heralding upcoming raids. The innocent, good-natured boy wanders among soldiers in combat and among the wounded: clumsy, forced to rely on only hearing and touch, he is like a leaden soldier molded by the trifling hands of History.

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- War in contemporary Russian cinema, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- Russian Film Festival For Another Russia, Paris (France), 2020
- "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2020
- "Spirit of Fire" International Debut Film Festival, Khanty Mansiysk (Russia), 2020
- Semaine du nouveau cinéma russe au cinéma-aventure, Brussels (Belgium), 2019
- Russian Film Week in Paris : Regards de Russie, Paris (France), 2019
- Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2019
- Russian Film Festival For Another Russia, Paris (France), 2019
- Berlin International Film Festival : Berlinale, Berlin (Germany), 2019
- Russische Filmwoche in Berlin, Berlin (Germany), 2019
- Era New Horizons IFF, Wroclaw (Poland), 2019
- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2019
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2019
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2019
- Russian Film Week in London, London (United Kingdom), 2019

Photos and videos