The streaming platform Netflix has acquired the film «Rhinoceros» by Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov, who announced it on his Facebook. The release date is planned for 17 February.
The crime drama «Rhinoceros» tells about the gangster ‘90s in Ukraine. In the centre of the tape, a former young bandit «Rhinoceros» recalls and reflects on his past. At some point, he realises that before, everything he did had a purpose. Now, he tries to understand what he is ready for.
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The works on «Rhinoceros» started in 2013, when the State Cinema of Ukraine allocated UAH 3.9 million from state funding for its creation. However, due to the illegal imprisonment of the director in Russia after the occupation of Crimea, the implementation of the plan was suspended. After his release and return to Ukraine, Oleh Sentsov returned to work on the film.
Filming took place in the Central Ukrainian industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, Lviv and Kyiv, and was completed in December 2020. The film is a co-production of Ukraine, Poland and Germany, its international distributor is WestEnd Films. Ukrainian participants in the production of the film were director Oleh Sentsov and producer Denys Ivanov, on the Polish side, co-producers were Dariusz Jablonski, Violetta Kaminska, Isabela Wojciech of Apple Film Production, and on the German side – Heino Deckert, Tina Björner of the company «Ma.ja.de. Fiction».
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The film «Rhinoceros», which became the second full-length work by director Oleh Sentsov, was presented at the 78th Venice Film Festival in the official competition program «Horizons». The Ukrainian premiere of the film took place in the autumn of 2021 at the Kyiv Critics’ Week.
The film was named the best at the Stockholm International Film Festival. Also, the actor Serhii Filimonov, who played the lead role, won the nomination «Best Actor».
Translated by Vitalii Holich
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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