FRANZ+POLINA
This was my debut feature-film. It was 2004 and I was making music videos
We even filmed in the places where these grim events had taken place. Literally, on the bones of the people involved. Maybe all this contributed to what became the film "Franz+Polina".
- I DIDN'T YET KNOW WHEN I WOULD MAKE MY FIRST FILM OR WHAT IT WOULD BE ABOUT, BUT I DID KNOW THAT IT WOULDN'T BE ANYTHING LIKE MY MUSIC VIDEOS OR ADS.
- AND WE SET OFF. YOUNG AND HARDWORKING IN THE COLD AUTUMN AND WINTER OF 2004 ON THE BELORUSSIAN LAND, STILL REDOLENT OF PAIN AND BODIES.
We even filmed in the places where these grim events had taken place. Literally, on the bones of the people involved. Maybe all this contributed to what became the film "Franz+Polina".
1943, Belarus. SS soldiers are stationed in a small village and are on friendly terms with the villagers. They help them on their farms, play with the children and start building a new life. Young soldier Franz, despite the warnings of his commander to keep any romantic connections lighthearted, falls in love with young Polina. But the warnings were not in vain. One day the order comes to destroy the village and all its inhabitants.
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POSTERS
SOUNDTRACK
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
2006 – Selected for XXVII Moscow International Film Festival.
2007 – Montreal International Film Festival Official Selection, Canada.
2007 – FIPRESCI prize, Cinema-Tous-Ecrans International Film Festival (Geneva, Switzerland).
Best Film, Cabourg Film Festival ( France).
2006 – Prizewinner, XVI Cottbus Film Festival (Germany).
2006 – Selected for the Russian Film Week in Paris and Berlin.
2006 – Official selection, XVI Camerimage Film Festival (Łódź, Poland).
2007 – Grand Prix for Best Film and Best Music, FIPA (Biarritz, France).
2007 – Best Actor, 13th Shanghai TV Festival, (China).
2007 – Best Director, Vivat, Cinema of Russia Film Festival (St. Petersburg).
2006 – Best Debut and Best Cinematography, Listapad International Film Festival ( Minsk, Belarus).
2006 – Grand Prix and Best Actress, the Sergey Bondarchuk Volokolamsy Defense Line Festival of Patriotic Films.
2006 – Jury Special Award and Best Actress, XV Kinoshok International Film Festival (Anapa).
2006 Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Constellation (Tver, Russia).
2006 – Jury Special Prize, Baltic Debuts International Film Festival (Svetlogorsk, Russia).
2007 – Lebeshev Prize for Best Visuals, Spirit of Fire International Film Festival ( Khanty Mansiysk, Russia).
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ACTORS AND CREW
Director – Mikhail Segal
Screenplay – Mikhail Segal, Vladimir Stepanenko, Maxim Trapo
Director of Photography – Maxim Trapo
Music – Andjey Petras
Production Designer – Alexander Maximovich
Make-Up Designers – Galina Kosygina
Costume Designer – Lyudmila Torshina
Assistant Director – Tatyana Maksyutova
Polina – Svetlana Ivanova
Franz – Adrian Topol
Polina's Mother – Tamara Mironova
Otto – Uwe Jellinek
Kazik - Valentin Matsapura
Liza – Erika Bulataya
Komissar – Mikhail Segal
Screenplay – Mikhail Segal, Vladimir Stepanenko, Maxim Trapo
Director of Photography – Maxim Trapo
Music – Andjey Petras
Production Designer – Alexander Maximovich
Make-Up Designers – Galina Kosygina
Costume Designer – Lyudmila Torshina
Assistant Director – Tatyana Maksyutova
Polina – Svetlana Ivanova
Franz – Adrian Topol
Polina's Mother – Tamara Mironova
Otto – Uwe Jellinek
Kazik - Valentin Matsapura
Liza – Erika Bulataya
Komissar – Mikhail Segal
Based on "Mute" the novella by Ales Adamovich. Yugra Film
Productions, 2006 Producer – Oleg Urushev
P.S. In the film Ales Adamovich, the author of the novella, is credited as the screenplay writer. This was a legal requirement, but in reality, our screenplay team wrote 70% of the script. We got permission from the copyright holders to change the plot, but we still had to credit Adamovich as the author of the screenplay. This doesn't seem entirely correct, as posthumously he cannot answer for our adaptation and changes in the plot.
Productions, 2006 Producer – Oleg Urushev
P.S. In the film Ales Adamovich, the author of the novella, is credited as the screenplay writer. This was a legal requirement, but in reality, our screenplay team wrote 70% of the script. We got permission from the copyright holders to change the plot, but we still had to credit Adamovich as the author of the screenplay. This doesn't seem entirely correct, as posthumously he cannot answer for our adaptation and changes in the plot.
SELECTED FESTIVALS AND PRESS COVERAGE
FEATURED REVIEWS
Mikhail Segal's "Franz+Polina" = Love. Beyond war, beyond nationality, beyond time. Love in its purest form…"
Anatoly Vasiliev / Theatre director
"Franz+Polina" is a tremendous film. I cried when I watched it. Andrzej Zulawski / Film director
You must try to watch the Russian film "Franz+Polina" by Mikhail Segal. This story of love against the backdrop of Nazi barbarism in Belarus stands out with its rare cinematographic quality.
L`Humanite / France
Anatoly Vasiliev / Theatre director
"Franz+Polina" is a tremendous film. I cried when I watched it. Andrzej Zulawski / Film director
You must try to watch the Russian film "Franz+Polina" by Mikhail Segal. This story of love against the backdrop of Nazi barbarism in Belarus stands out with its rare cinematographic quality.
L`Humanite / France
This film literally blew my mind. It's one of the best films I've seen in recent years. Pierre-Henry Deleau / FIPA, France
I have one weakness. I love talented work. For me Franz+Polina" is a film of talent. It's made with unusual mastery and exactitude for a debut director. Exactitude is today's truth. It has allowed the director to tell this old-as-time story anew.
Pavel Lungin / Film director
I have one weakness. I love talented work. For me Franz+Polina" is a film of talent. It's made with unusual mastery and exactitude for a debut director. Exactitude is today's truth. It has allowed the director to tell this old-as-time story anew.
Pavel Lungin / Film director
Of course, first and foremost this is a love story is played to perfection. Timeout / Russia
Franz and Polina must choose between the instinct of love and the instinct of survival. The New York Times / USA
Taking into consideration all the many qualities of the film (the cinematography, the script and the acting), it would be wonderful if French audiences got the chance to see this moving love story between a young German Romeo and a beautiful Juliet from Belarus.
La Croix / France
Franz and Polina must choose between the instinct of love and the instinct of survival. The New York Times / USA
Taking into consideration all the many qualities of the film (the cinematography, the script and the acting), it would be wonderful if French audiences got the chance to see this moving love story between a young German Romeo and a beautiful Juliet from Belarus.
La Croix / France
The director has proved himself a real master of psychological tension, taking his film to a finale of operatic and surreal levels.
EPD / Germany
The film is remarkable for its carefully coordinated, even aggressive visuals, which seem to confirm life as a super-idea, unconnected to time or place: it's not war, but life in the conditions of war - peacetime life, wartime life, sowing new seeds and sowing death.
Kinokadr / Russia
EPD / Germany
The film is remarkable for its carefully coordinated, even aggressive visuals, which seem to confirm life as a super-idea, unconnected to time or place: it's not war, but life in the conditions of war - peacetime life, wartime life, sowing new seeds and sowing death.
Kinokadr / Russia