''Land of Legends'' (russian: Сердце Пармы, lit=''Heart of Parma'') is a 2022 Russian epic

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...

film directed by

Anton Megerdichev Anton Yevgenievich Megerdichev (; born July 22, 1969) is a Russian director and screenwriter. Filmography * ''Russian Empire. The Project of Leonid Parfyonov'' (2000) * '' Shadowboxing 2: Revenge'' (2007) * '' Dark World'' (2010) * '' Metro ...

. It is an adaptation of the historical novel ''Heart of Parma'' ( ru) written by Alexei Ivanov and published in 2003. The book is based on the events of the 15th century and talks about the conquest of

Great Perm Great Perm, or simply Perm, in Latin ''Permia'', was a medieval historical region in what is now the Perm Krai of the Russian Federation. Cherdyn is said to have been its capital. The origin of the name ''Perm'' is uncertain. Most common expl ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. The film stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Yevgeny Mironov,

Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk (russian: link=no, Фёдор Сергеевич Бондарчук ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, TV and film producer, clipmaker, TV host, founder of production company Art Pictures Studio. ...

, Elena Erbakova,

Sergei Puskepalis Sergei Vytautovich Puskepalis ( rus, Сергей Витаутович Пускепалис; 15 April 1966 – 20 September 2022) was a Russian actor and theatre director. He is best known for his roles in the award-winning movies '' Simple Thing ...

, and Aleksey Rozin joining the cast.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in August 2019 and ended in February 2020, the film was shot on the territory of the

Perm Krai Perm Krai (russian: Пе́рмский край, r=Permsky kray, p=ˈpʲɛrmskʲɪj ˈkraj, ''Permsky krai'', , ''Perem lador'') is a federal subject of Russia (a krai) that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 re ...

, and the Moscow Oblast were selected. Unique scenery were built on the banks of the

Usva USVA may refer to: Geography * Usva, an urban locality in Perm Krai, Russia * Usva (river), a river in Perm Krai, Russia * Virginia, a state in the United States (US) with the initials VA Other uses * United States Department of Veterans Aff ...

and

Kosva The Kosva (russian: Ко́сьва) is a river in Perm Krai and Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, a left tributary of the Kama. It is long, with a drainage basin of .

rivers: wooden and stone cities, fortresses, stilt houses. It was released in wide release on October 6, 2022, by

Central Partnership Central Partnership (russian: Централ Партнершип) is a Russian film distribution and production company founded in 1995. The distributor was acquired by Russian gas company Gazprom in 2014. History Central Partnership started ...

Plot

The film takes place in the 15th century in the

Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan * Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econ ...

, which Moscow troops want to capture. Mikhail, Prince of

with the help of local residents and old gods will try to fight back. According to the authors, the epic drama ''Heart of Parma'' is the history of the confrontation between two worlds: the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Ural Parma, the ancient Perm lands inhabited by pagans. Here heroes and ghosts, princes and shamans, Voguls and Muscovites will clash. At the center of the conflict of civilizations is the fate of the Russian prince Mikhail, who fell in love with the young Tiche, a witch-

lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

capable of taking on the form of a lynx. Passion for the pagan and fidelity to forbidden love, a campaign against the Voguls, bloody battles and a short peace, the battle between Grand Duchy of Moscow and Parma, the hero will face trials in which it is not so terrible to part with life as to commit treason.

Cast

* Aleksandr Kuznetsov as Permian prince Mikhail Yermolaevich, a centurion of the Komi-Permian, ruler of the Grand Duchy of

principality. ** Yaroslav Beloborodov as Prince Mikhail Yermolaevich as a child * Yevgeny Mironov as Baptist Jonah *

Grand prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king ...

Ivan III Vasilyevich of Russia, Grand Duke of

* Elena Erbakova as Tiche, lamia the sorceress, Prince Mikhail's wife *

Vitali Kishchenko Vitali Eduardovich Kishchenko (russian: Вита́лий Эдуа́рдович Ки́щенко; born May 25, 1964) is a Soviet and Russian actor. Merited Artist of the Russian Federation Merited Artist of the Russian Federation (russian: l ...

as Fyodor Davydovich Motley * Aleksandr Gorbatov as Prince Yermolay * Valentin Tszin as Assyka is a Khakan (prince), the Vogul city of Pelym. *

as Cherdyn

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...

Polyud could have ended up in the city of Cherdyn. * Mikhail Evlanov as Danila Venets * Vladimir Lyubimtsev as Permian prince Burmot -

, Prince Mikhail's friend * Islam Zafesov as

Shiban Shiban (Sheiban) or Shayban ( mn, Шибан, ''Shiban'', also spelled ''Siban''; uz, Shaybon / Шайбон) was a prince of the early Golden Horde. He was a grandson of Genghis Khan, the fifth son of Jochi and a younger brother of Batu Khan w ...

Isur,

, the Tatar city of Afkul, Prince Mikhail's friend * Aleksey Rozin as Pitirim * Yelena Panova as Tabarga * Roza Khayrullina as Aichel * Ilya Malanin as Prince Michkin of Uros * Miroslava Mikhailova as Masha

Production

Development

In 2005, the rights to the film adaptation were bought by the

company, the director of the TV series ''

Brigada ''Brigada'' (russian: Бригада), also known as ''Law of the Lawless'', is a Russian 15-episode crime television miniseries that debuted in 2002. It became very popular in Russia and ex-Soviet countries as well as Eastern Europe, but recei ...

'' by Aleksey Sidorov, was supposed to be the director. In July 2008, it became known that the company did not intend to make the film. In 2014, Star Media Company acquired the rights to film adaptation of the novel from Alexei Ivanov. The film was originally directed by Sergei Bodrov. He later withdrew from the production due to being busy, but remained as screenwriter. On March 21, 2019, at the pitching of the film companies leading the

Cinema Foundation of Russia Russian Cinema Fund Analytics, known as Cinema Fund (Фонд Кино; Officially Federal Fund for Economic and social support of the Russian Cinematography, Федеральный фонд социальной и экономической по ...

, producer Igor Tolstunov announced the cast of the film adaptation of Alexei Ivanov's novel ''Heart of Parma'', which will be directed by

, responsible for the film ''

Going Vertical ''Going Vertical'', also known as ''Three Seconds'' (russian: Движение вверх, Dvizhenie vverkh) is a 2017 Russian sports drama film directed by Anton Megerdichev about the controversial victory of the Soviet national basketball tea ...

'' (2017).

Casting

So, the main role - Prince Mikhail - will be played by Aleksandr Kuznetsov, known for the films '' The Scythian''. His wife Tiche will be played by Elena Erbakova, an actress from

Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; bua, Улаан-Үдэ, , ; russian: Улан-Удэ, p=ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ; mn, Улаан-Үд, , ) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence wi ...

, for her this will be a film debut. The role of Bishop Jonah went to Yevgeny Mironov, and the role of Grand Prince Ivan III will be played by

Filming

According to the film group, the filming will soon be completed on the

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

of the

. In the village of Schegolevo,

Ramensky District Ramensky District (russian: Раменский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #11/2013-OZ and municipalLaw #55/2005-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southeastern central part of the o ...

, Moscow Oblast, and in the vicinity of

Gubakha Gubakha (russian: Губа́ха) is a town in Perm Krai, Russia, located on the Kosva River (Kama's tributary) northeast of Perm. Population: History Gubakha arose in 1755 due to the discovery of iron ore in Krestovaya mountain. The village ...

, unique decorations were built on the banks of the

and Vishera River: wooden and stone cities, fortresses, and houses on stilts. ''Heart of Parma'' is already considered one of the most difficult staged projects of

Russian cinema The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years following its dissolution, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st century, Russian cinema has become ...

. In total, more than 2,000 people took part in the project during the entire filming period, including a film crew of 150 people. The extras, recruited in the area of the town of

, where the filming took place, deliberately did not shave their beards for several months in order to appear in both the summer and winter blocks. The costumes of the inhabitants of the fictional water city of Uros were made to order from real fish skin. At the end of filming in

, the producers of the project decided not to disassemble the scenery, but to use the built city as a historical and tourist site. The large-scale decoration " Cherdyn" was donated to the city administration. It is planned to make an observation deck on the site of the city's scenery and install information boards with QR codes that will direct you to a site that tells about the sights of Gubakha and the filming of the project.

Post-production

The film includes large-scale battle scenes,

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

, and carefully designed costume details, props, and weapons.

Release

On August 26, 2022, the film opened the screening program of the 44th

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

. ''Land of Legends'' premiered at the "Karo 11 October" cinema in

on September 28, and in

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places *Perm, Russia, a city in Russia ** Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 **Perm Governorate, an administra ...

on October 5, 2022. It was theatrically released in the Russian Federation from October 6, 2022.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=10749948 2020s Russian-language films 2020s historical action films 2020s historical fantasy films 2020s historical drama films 2022 fantasy films 2020s fantasy action films 2020s fantasy drama films 2020s action war films Historical epic films Epic fantasy films Fantasy war films War epic films Russian epic films Russian historical action films Russian historical drama films Russian fantasy action films Russian fantasy drama films Russian action war films Biographical films about Russian royalty Kievan Rus in fiction Monarchy in fiction Siege films Films based on short fiction War films based on actual events Films based on European myths and legends Films set in Ural Films shot in Moscow Oblast Films shot in Perm Krai