Художественные фильмы

                   

Мастер и Маргарита - 2020

A new film

The first signs of a new Russian film adaptation of The Master and Margarita emerged in 2017 when the Supervisory Board of the Фонд Кино [Fond Kino] or the Federal Fund for Economic and Social Support of Russian Cinematography, chaired by Vladimir Tolstoy, the cultural advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, approved a list of 17 films for which the Fund would support production in 2018 and 2019. One of the selected projects was a film adaptation of The Master and Margarita.

The film to be supported by the Fond Kino was to be directed by Nikolai Lebedev (°1966), who also wrote the screenplay. He had set a budget of 800 million rubles (10.5 million euros), and filming was scheduled to begin in April 2019. It was expected that the film would be released in December 2020.

Nikolai Lebedev

Nikolai Lebedev, who also wrote and directed the Russian version of the children's programme Sesame Street, is one of Russia's most successful directors. He often depicts characters who rebel against externally imposed rules, as in his films Wolfhound (2007), Legend No. 17 (2013), and The Crew (2016).

Of course, we knew from experience that we had to be very cautious about announcements of film adaptations of The Master and Margarita, because in the rich history of the agony of the filmmakers plans have often been announced that never materialised. But this project would be produced by heavyweights like Konstantin Ernst (Channel 1), Igor Tolstunov (Profit), Leonard Blavatnik (Amedia Productions), and Ruben Dishdisyan (Mars Media). So perhaps we had something to look forward to.

On August 16, 2019, at the opening of the 7th Russian Short Film Festival in Kaliningrad, festival jury chairman Igor Tolstunov, one of the co-producers of the planned film, spoke to the TASS news agency about his project. He said that filming would begin in March 2020 and that, although casting had not yet been finalised, «Western actors will also participate in the project». However, he could not yet reveal who these actors were.

Ruben Disjdisjan

Sharks in the water

There was, however, a shark in the water. It turned out there were ties between the producers of this film and the producers of a film being prepared in Hollywood. Click on this link to read more about it.

Initially, the producers of the American project, Svetlana Migunova-Dali, Grace Loh and Michael Lang, had no problem with the plans of Mars Media and Nikolai Lebedev. After all, during discussions about their film rights, they had stipulated with Sergei Shilovsky, the grandson of Bulgakov's third wife, Yelena Sergeevna, that a potential new Russian film would not be released in an English-language version, not even with subtitles. But Shilovsky, who was contractually obligated to inform the Russian producers of this, had failed to do so, leaving Mars Media free to translate and release their film in English anyway.

Michael Lang filed a claim against Mars Media and Mars Media filed a lawsuit against Sergei Shilovsky, claiming 115 million rubles (1.24 million euros) in damages. However, the case appeared to have been settled amicably in April 2020. We don't know who paid what to whom. We only heard Shilovsky say: «Oké, prima,fine, I'll give most of the money back», but the amount and to whom were not disclosed.

Nikolai Lebedev's Exit

In April 2021, Mars Media suddenly announced that Nikolai Lebedev's film plans were being shelved. According to Mars Media producer Ruben Dishdisyan, financing problems and the Covid-19 pandemic were the reasons for the decision. However, Dishdisyan also confirmed that the project wasn't completely dead. A film titled Woland was in the pipeline, to be directed by Michael Lockshin. Click on this link to read more about Michael Lockshin's film.