The Russian Premiere of Kandahar directed by Andrey Kavun launched on the 1st of February 2010

Though the events in the film take place in battle zone, this film is not just a war or political detective and not a textbook on military arts – we’ve had enough of such films. Film “Kandahar” is about people and relations between them. How do people behave in emergency conditions? The combination of suspense and action, which the film has, is high esteemed by contemporary viewer. They look like they’ve just stepped from the huge movie poster. And suddenly – the Red Carpet, camera sparks and numerous interviews with the same questions on how is it hard and difficult, and sometimes even unbearable to play on the screen what other people have lived through.Alexander Golubev, actor: “It was just a play for us, while it was a real commotion to them. And we had to feel and fully understand it.”In order to get the right feeling of what was going on, actors met with real heroes, their prototypes.Andrey Panin, actor: “I always wondered why people throw themselves on tanks with a grenade in their hands, how they survive in the concentration camps and still remain human”.There are 5 members of the crew in the film, while there were 7 of them in reality. The actors saw this film for the first time during this premiere. One of the main actors – Vladimir Mashkov – said that after the film he was going to call Kazan to talk to his prototype Gazinur Hairullin. He was desperate to know his feelings after the film. The premier started in Kazan the same day the same hour as in Moscow and other 11 cities of Russian Federation.On the 14th of July 1995 the Russian plane IL-76 completing an air cargo delivery to Kabul was attacked by a Taliban fighter plane over Kandahar. The crew was taken captives and they had to survive in the hell during 378 days. The script of the film is based on the diary of the crew captain – Vladimir Sharpatov. But it is not a documentary film.Andrey Kavun, film director: “All the facts that take place in the film happened in reality; and though I made up another story, another characters, it was important for me to tell the real story to the viewer.”Valery Todorovski, film producer: “It happens sometimes that films based on astonishing events turn out to be dull ones, while we have grandiose dramatic stories about people. And we shouldn’t shoot them as a documentary, but relate on the screen a story that will arouse powerful feelings”.The film crew worked on this film for three years. The shooting took place in Morocco. The work started at 5 a.m. in order to make it before the exhausting day-heat. Vladimir Mashkov: “All physical and natural cataclysms were nothing compared to the knowledge that we will fly away in the end, while the real pilots never knew…”

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