1 October 2003
Belarusian version of Anastasiya of Slutsk to premier in Brest
The Belarusian-language version of Anastasiya of Slutsk will premier at the 4th Belarusian Film Festival due to take place in Brest between October 11 and 16.
The movie was Belarus' largest film production project last year that cost the government around 2 billion rubels and was carried out under the personal supervision of Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko. It relates a story of the Belarusian duchess who played a key role in defending the town of Slutsk besieged by a 20,000-strong army of Crimean khan Baty-Girei in the 16th century. Mr. Lukashenko wanted it to be "a genuine Belarusian" film exposing the true history, culture and
mentality of the people. However, its genuineness appears to have been questioned at the few international film festivals it has visited so far.
Director Yury Yelkhov told reporters on September 25 he had been reproached at festivals in former Soviet Union republics for making the original movie in Russian rather than in the native language.
The filmmaker said that the state film production studio Belarusfilm has signed on a company in Moscow to add English subtitles to the film in order to promote it at Cannes and other film festivals in Europe.
The film has already grabbed a few awards at minor film festivals in Russia and Ukraine, and, according to Svetlana Zelenkovskaya who starred as Anastasiya, was well-received by the audience and the jury.
Belarusfilm Director Vyacheslav Shenko said the movie is a box office success in Belarus with its audience nearing a total of 300,000. The movie premiered on July 3 in Minsk, all regional capitals and
the city of Nesvizh, which celebrated its 780th anniversary this year.
http://brestonline.com/en/news/news468.html