The creator of Night Watch will film Boris Eifman’s ballet about Molière

From 4 to 18 July shooting of the screen version of Boris Eifman’s 2021 production Molière Passion, or The Mask of Don Juan will take place at DK Lensoveta (St. Petersburg). Boris Eifman to be the director of the film.

Sergei Trofimov, one of the most famous and sought-after figures in the nowadays Russian film industry, will be the director of photography. His extensive filmography includes such successful films and TV series as Night Watch, Day Watch, The Irony of Fate 2, Gogol, Vertinsky, Patient Zero.

“By combining modern film technologies, the expressive possibilities of theatrical art and the movement of the human body, we are participating in the creation of a special artistic phenomenon, the choreographic cinema. Our best and most famous productions, having received the proper cinematography, acquire a new emotional and aesthetic dimension,” Boris Eifman emphasizes.

The stars of the Company, laureates of the Golden Mask and Golden Soffit theatrical awards, President of Russia’s Prize and the Russian Government prize will have the main parts in the film: Honored Artist of Russia Oleg Gabyshev (Molière, Old Molière), Honored Artist of Russia Maria Abashova (Madeleine), Lyubov Andreyeva (Armande), Sergey Volobuev (Don Juan), Dmitry Krylov (Commander), Daniel Rubin (Louis XIV), Angela Prokhorova (Donna Anna).

Molière Passion, or The Mask of Don Juan will be Boris Eifman’s eighth screen ballet in recent years. In 2010–2020 the screen versions of the productions Anna Karenina (2010), Eugene Onegin (2010), Rodin, Her Eternal Idol (2012), Beyond Sin (2013), Up & Down (2016), Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA (2017) and The Pygmalion Effect (2020) were created. The Company’s screen ballets were broadcast by the Russian national TV and by French channel Mezzo a number of times. In 2019–2020 screen ballet The Brothers Karamazov (film version of the production Beyond Sin) was shown in the cinemas of Russia, the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Belarus and other countries as part of TheatreHD and Stage Russia HD projects, and was also shown online at international festivals in Mexico, Brazil and China.