Kantemir Balagov: Last News

Even as Cannes just wrapped up last month, and Tribeca is still going on this week, all eyes on the Festival circuit are turning towards Fall, and the all-important stops like Venice, Toronto, and Telluride that will be kicking off the fest circuit likely to set the table for awards season.  And others are making early moves now as New York Film Festival organizers were in town last week holding a reception for studio and PR reps and press to pump up interest in their Fall festival even before that other aforementioned NY based fest got rolling with its opening night. Leaders of the Toronto International Film Festival were also in town this Spring holding meetings and lunches to assure the industry it would be returning to business as usual in person this Fall. All the festival heads are busy seeing early previews of films that hope to use the Fall fests to launch Oscar campaigns.

There’s good and bad news in the world of HBO‘s big-budgeted series adaptation of the acclaimed Naughty Dog post-apocalypse video game “The Last of Us.” Let’s start with the good news, after releasing a series of teasers and a trailer, HBO finally has a premiere date for the show. The nine-episode first season of the original drama series will debut Sunday, January 15 at 9:00 p.m.

Christopher Vourlias Russian director Alexander Zolotukhin has sky-high ambitions for “Brother in Every Inch,” which has its world premiere Feb. 13 in the Berlin Film Festival’s competitive Encounters section.Zolotukhin’s sophomore feature is the story of twin brothers whose inseparable bond complicates their efforts to fulfill their shared dream of becoming air force pilots.

Christopher Vourlias Loco Films has taken world sales rights on Alexander Zolotukhin’s “Brother in Every Inch” ahead of its world premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s competitive Encounters section. The Paris-based sales agent has also acquired “The Land of Sasha,” the feature debut of Julia Trofimova, which plays in the festival’s Generation 14plus strand.Zolotukhin’s sophomore feature is the story of twin brothers whose inseparable bond complicates their efforts to fulfill their shared dream of becoming military pilots.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorTop Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who was Oscar nominated for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” is reteaming with Zvyagintsev for his first English-language film, and with Kantemir Balagov, who directed “Beanpole,” best director winner in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2019. Rodnyansky will also co-produce a documentary by Godfrey Reggio alongside Steven Soderbergh.Rodnyansky has two films in Cannes Festival this year: Oscar nominated Ari Folman’s Out of Competition title “Where Is Anne Frank,” and Kira Kovalenko’s Un Certain Regard selected “Unclenching the Fists.”Zvyagintsev’s “What Happens,” which will be shot in the U.S., is written by Oleg Negin.

So, it’s a “Game Of Thrones” reunion of sorts over at HBO. Although the two actors never shared screentime on HBO’s hit fantasy series, both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey—both of whom had smaller roles and were smaller stars at the time—have been cast in HBO’s adaptation of the wildly popular video game, “The Last Of Us.” READ MORE: The 65 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2021 If you’re anything like me, you might be wildly ill-equipped to write about “The Last Of Us,” but the gist is, it’s a 2013 post-apocalyptic action-adventure game from Sony Computer Entertainment.

The upcoming HBO series adaptation of “The Last of Us” just got a whole lot bleaker. “Beanpole” director Kantemir Balagov has reportedly been tapped to direct the pilot for the upcoming adaptation of the popular post-apocalyptical adventure game.

HBO has tapped Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov (Closeness, Beanpole) to direct the pilot episode of HBO’s upcoming drama series The Last of Us, the adaptation of the PlayStation video game, from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin, game creator Neil Druckmann and Game of Thrones exec producer Carolyn Strauss.

The more that comes out about the HBO series adaptation of the video game The Last of Us, the more exciting this project sounds. The game, as well as its sequel, are landmarks for video games, telling moving and serious stories in a way any film would be jealous of. Now, the television series won’t just be show-run and written by Craig Mazin, alongside the game’s Neil Druckmann, but the pilot now has a top notch director attached. Who, you might ask? Well, none other than Kantemir Balagov, the filmmaker who emerged on the scene with Beanpole. A young up and comer, it’s a sure sign that HBO has very high hopes for this show. Read on for more…