The popular Russian Resurrection Film Festival returns to Melbourne and the rest of Australia in 2017, hosting a wide array of standout Russian films.

The festival is set to take place in 5 cities around Australia, which include Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth & Canberra, as well as a New Zealand season in Auckland.

Melbourne will play host to the festival from 9 to 19 November at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square.

There’ll be 14 new feature films showcased at the event, along with a special Andrei Konchalovsky Retrospective, which will showcase 6 of the famous director’s most popular films including Nest of the Gentry (1969), Uncle Vanya (1970), Runaway Train (1985), and action film classic, Tango & Cash (1989).

Furthermore, a Festival sidebar dubbed Mosfilm Classics will screen two classic cinematic gems in 12 Chairs (1971) and The Shooting Party (1978).

Set to launch the Melbourne season at the Russian Resurrection Film Festival’s renowned Opening Night Gala will be director Karen Shakhnazarov’s Anna Karenina: Vronsky’s Story (2017), which features the below synopsis:

Set in 1904, 30 years after the heartbreaking events of Tolstoy’s novel, this drama brings together Anna’s son, Sergei Karenin and Alexey Vronsky who find themselves joined by fate in a remote Manchurian village, where they try to find answers to Anna’s suicide, a tragedy which has haunted both their lives.

Check out the trailer for the festival below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=PwSU0bEz9uI

Some other notable films from the festival also include:

Spacewalkers (2017)                                                                                   

Director: Dmitry Kiselyov

Based on a true story, Spacewalkers is set during the heat of the Space Race where USSR and the USA competed for supremacy in space.  Both superpowers aim to be the first to have a man walk in outer space and it’s up to the unlikely duo of a seasoned war veteran and a hot-headed test-pilot to fulfil the mission.  

Arrhythmia (2017)                                                                                   

Director: Boris Khlebnikov

This art-house drama took home the major prize for Best Film at the 2017 edition of Russia’s esteemed Kinotavr Film Festival and went on to make its international debut at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where its male lead, Alexander Yatsenko, was awarded Best Actor. The film follows the lives of Oleg, a gifted and opinionated paramedic and his wife Katya who both work in a hospital emergency department. Caught between emergency calls, alcohol-fuelled sessions and the search for a meaning in life, Oleg and Katya need to find the binding force that keeps them together.

About Love: Adults Only (2017)

Director: Ensemble directorial feature

Set during a Moscow summer in 2016 this is the Festival’s ‘must-see’ comedy for 2017! A sequel to the popular 2015 About Love, this follow-up features a new lecture, a new guest lecturer (played by renowned American actor and director, John Malkovich) and a new theme: “How to preserve love in the modern world”.  Five different love stories are brought together in this hilarious light-hearted comedy.

Cold Tango (2017)

Director: Pael Chukhray

In 1941, the German Army sweeps into Lithuania plunging its Jewish population, including young Max and his family, into grave peril. The film recreates the terrifying realities of life under an oppressive foreign occupation – first by Nazi Germany and then by the forces of the Soviet Union. In this climate of fear and violence, Max meets and falls in love with Laima – a Lithuanian girl whose family takes him under their protection, but who also carry their own dark secrets.

The Kitchen: World Chef Battle (2017)

Director: Anton Fedotov

This is the greatly anticipated and witty sequel to the hit Kitchen in Paris. Before meeting Anna, a beautiful French woman, Ivan was only interested in digital codes and hacker programs. Now Anna and Ivan are both flying to Sochi to compete in the World Championship for Chefs where Anna will represent France and Ivan will cook for Russia. Ivan must earn the trust of his culinary super-team and sort out his relationship with his father, well-known chef Victor Barinov.  If only Ivan would stick to the recipes – he might avoid trouble, chaos and prison – all whilst helping television personality and host for the World Championship for Chefs, Dmitri Nagiev, escape a forced marriage.

Snow Queen 3 – Fire and Ice (2017)

Director: Alexei Tsitsilyn

The sequel to the popular family animations The Snow Queen and Snow Queen 2. After heroically defeating both the Snow Queen and the Snow King, Gerda still cannot attain peace. She embarks upon a mission to find her parents and with the help of her friends, undertakes a thrilling journey, encountering new challenges along the way.

Blockbuster (2017)

Director: Roman Volobuev

A fast-paced black comedy, Blockbuster is about two young women on the run and their unlikely friendship as a result of a wild series of bizarre events. A satirical take on modern television, low-rent media and the heroes of our times, with each girl struggling for the ultimate breakthrough.

Viking (2016)

Director: Andrei Kravchuk

Starring Russian heart-throb, Danila Kozlovsky, a guest of the 2016 Festival, this epic historical action-drama returns to the dark ages of heavy swords, muddy battles and rollicking passions when great chaos gave rise to heroic events.

Date and venues for the 2017 Russian Resurrection Film Festival are as follows:

• Sydney: 26 October to 5 November at Event Cinemas George Street and Burwood
• Perth: 27 October to 1 November at Cinema Paradiso, Northbridge
• Brisbane: 01 November to 08 November at Event Cinemas Myer Centre Brisbane City
• Canberra: 10-15 November at Capitol Cinemas Manuka
• Melbourne: 09 to 19 November at ACMI
• Auckland NZ: from 08 to 12 November at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket

For more details about the event, you can visit the official site here.