We are honored to have Oleg Sentsov's NUMBERS shown in Berlinale on two occasions. The director of the festival has chosen NUMBERS to be a part of the special program celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Berlinale, as well as invited the film to the Berlinale Special section. We are happy that an international audience will see the film which, thanks to the tremendous determination of many people, Oleg directed from behind the bars of a gulag. We are also pleased for the audience to meet Oleg, whose release was secured after five years of international effort. I'm proud and moved, especially because many exceptional Polish artists were also involved in the making of this film, said Dariusz Jablonski, Polish producer (Apple Film Production) of NUMBERS.
NUMBERS, based on a play by Sentsov, is a dystopian parable. The film tells the story of a strictly ordered world of ten Numbers, in which an error suddenly occurs, causing the creation of an entirely new world. But will it be any better than the old one?
The story of NUMBERS began in 2018 when Oleg Sentsov was serving a 20-years sentence in a high-security penal colony in northern Siberia for alleged terrorist activity.
In 2018, Oleg delivered all his decisions in over a hundred letters from the gulag: from his cast choices, through signing off on the set design, to detailed instructions regarding the pacing and style of acting. Akhtem Seitablaiev, a Ukrainian director with Tatar roots, who, like Oleg, is from Crimea executed Sentsov's directions on set. The set was designed by Kirill Shuvalov, the outstanding Russian stage designer of THE DONBAS and A GENTLE CREATURE (directed by Siergiej Loznitsa). Adam Sikora (ESSENTIAL KILLING, FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA, I, OLGA HEPNAROVA) was the DOP, the film was edited by the award-winning Jaroslaw Kaminski(COLD WAR, IDA, FUGUE), and the sound was done by Bartlomiej Wozniak (LASTING) and Wojciech Milelimaka (MR. JONES). The Polish producers are Dariusz Jablonski, Violetta Kaminska and Izabela Wojcik from Apple Film Production.
NUMBERS is the fifth Apple Film Production film in recent years to be presented at the Berlinale. The previous projects are DOVLATOV, dir. Alexey German, Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution 2018, WHEN THE TREES FALL, dir. Marysia Nikitiuk, Berlinale Panorama 2018, THE TRIAL: THE STATE OF RUSSIA VS OLEG SENTSOV, dir. Askold Kurov, Berlinale Special 2017, and UNDER ELECTRIC CLOUDS dir. Alexey German Jr., Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, Berlinale 2015.
The Polish premiere of NUMBERS, with presence of Oleg Sentsov and the Polish filmmakers is scheduled to take place on March 1st 2020 at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk.
The film was produced by 435 Films (Ukraine) and Apple Film Production (Poland) in co-production with Czech TV, CANAL+, Halley Production, with the support of the Government and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. It was co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, the Hubert Bals Fund, and the European Producers Club. Latido Films is the film’s world sales agent.
NUMBERS (Nomery)
Ukraine / Poland / Czech Republic / France
sound BARTLOMIEJ WOZNIAK, WOJCIECH MIELIMAKA, music MILOSH ELICH, make-up ANASTASIIA SUTIAHINA, costume designer SVITLANA DZIUBENKO, edited by JAROSLAW KAMINSKI PSM, production design by KIRILL SHUVALOV, director of photography ADAM SIKORA, producers ANNA PALENCHUK, VIOLETTA KAMINSKA, IZABELA WOJCIK, DARIUSZ JABLONSKI, written by OLEG SENTSOV, directed by OLEG SENTSOV in collaboration with AKHTEM SEITABLAIEV
cast: EVHEN CHERNYKOV, AGATHA LARIONOVA, OLEKSANDR BEGMA, MAKSYM DEVIZOROV, IRYNA MAK
Trailer EN: https://vimeo.com/390330854
