Aleksandr MELNIK
Александр МЕЛЬНИК
Aleksandr MELNIK
Russia, 2008, 120mn 
Colour, fiction
Novaya Zemlya
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 Terra Nova

 Terre neuve

Other titles : New Land
 
Directed by : Aleksandr MELNIK (Александр МЕЛЬНИК)
Writing credits : Arif ALIEV (Ариф АЛИЕВ)
 
Cast
Vladislav ABASHIN (Владислав АБАШИН )
Marat BASHAROV (Марат БАШАРОВ) ...Tolia
Ingeborga DAPKUNAITE (Ингеборга ДАПКУНАЙТЕ) ...Marta
Sergey KOLTAKOV (Сергей КОЛТАКОВ)
Konstantin LAVRONENKO (Константин ЛАВРОНЕНКО) ...Zhiline 
Pavel SBORSHCHIKOV (Павел СБОРЩИКОВ)
Yevgeni TITOV (Евгений ТИТОВ) ...Marin
Sergey ZHIGNOV (Сергей ЖИГУНОВ)
 
Cinematography : Ilya DIOMIN (Илья ДЕМИН)
Music : Gleb MATVEYCHUK (Глеб МАТВЕЙЧУК)
Produced by : Anton MELNIK (Антон МЕЛЬНИК)
Companies : Andreevski Flag
Film revenue in Russia : 2.22 million dollars
Release Date in Russia : 2008
 
Site : IMDb

Awards :
Best Cinematography Ilya DIOMIN , Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2008

Plot synopsis
'Escape from New York' meets 'Battle Royal' - in the Gulag! There is no more to say than that this big budget Russian Sci-Fi action bonanza became an immediate hit. The year is 2013, the death penalty has been abolished and prisons everywhere are overcrowded. When Ivan Zhilin (Konstantin Lavronenko) is convicted of the murder of 22 people, he is given the choice of a life sentence or being deported to the remote Arctic island Terra Nova together with 200 other prisoners and very little supplies. The control of Terra Nova is quickly assumed by the enormous Monkey (Pavel Sborschikov) and his brainless friends, who systematically go about killing and eating their fellow captives after the supplies have started rotting. Ivan and his companion Nikolai (Andrei Feskov) manage to escape the madness and find a way off the island, which unfortunately means that they have to return to the lion's den. The film is Russian, raw and violent, and well choreographed by the feature film novice Alexander Melnik, who manages to add both existentialist elements and political jabs to this testosterone frenzy. (http://www.cphpix.dk/n/a2.lasso?tt=f&s=2009015&sf=-4-&ser=764&e=1&-session=N:42F9435209ea1166FELYV350D513)
 

commentaries
Aleksandr Mel’nik : Terra Nova (Novaia zemlia, 2008), Kevin M. F. PLATT, kinokultura.com, 2009
L’année de la crise : un regard sur le cinéma russe 2008-2009, Yelena KVASOVA-DUFFORT, kinoglaz.fr, 2009
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival : NIFF, Neuchâtel (Switzerland), 2011
- Copenhagen International Film Festival / CPH PIX, Copenhagen (Denmark), 2009
- Russian Film Festival, Riga (Latvia), 2008
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2008
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2008
- International Human Rights Film Festival, Moscow (Russia), 2008
- "Vyborg" Russian Film Festival (formerly ''A Window to Europe''), Vyborg (Russia), 2008
- Middle East International Film Festival : MEIFF, Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), 2008
- Russian Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2008
- Russian Film Week in New York, New York (USA), 2008