The premiere of the film by director Oleg Shtrom at the “Ocean” cinema was sold out; after the screening, the audience applauded for a long time the film crew that flew to the capital of Primorye. And a few hours earlier, producers Yuri Obukhov and Alexey Ryazantsev, actor Dmitry Pevtsov and lead actor Bato Shoynzhonov met with journalists and told how the film was born.
On September 24, 2010, on the destroyer Bystry, which was preparing for a military cruise from Fokino to Kamchatka, a fire broke out in the engine room due to an electrical short circuit. Aldar, having passed his watch, did not have time to leave and hurriedly closed the fuel supply valve to prevent an explosion. The price of the feat is burns incompatible with life. For four days, doctors at the Pacific Fleet hospital fought for his life, but could not save him.
– The idea of making a film was born in Vladivostok, at pier 33, where the ships of the Pacific Fleet are based. When we were finishing the film “Nakhimovtsy”, which was also filmed here, I was walking with the fleet commander, saw the large ships “Admiral Vinogradov”, the cruiser “Varyag” and the small corvette “Hero of Russia Aldar Tsydenzhapov” at the pier and asked after whom it was named. Sergei Iosifovich Avakyants told me the story of this guy, and I was surprised. We decided that we needed to make a good film about this guy,” said the film’s producer Yuri Obukhov.
Actor Dmitry Pevtsov, who in the film played a Pacific Fleet hospital doctor trying to save a 19-year-old sailor, flew specially to Vladivostok for the premiere of the film.
– I haven’t been acting in films for seven years, there were no scripts that interested me. After reading the script, I couldn’t refuse: for me this is not so much an acting job, but human participation in that rare piece of cinema, which was made with love for Russia, with love for its army, with love for the hero and with love for the viewer. There have been practically no such gems in our cinema for the past 30 years. We learned to shoot, to make blockbusters, but the soul, the love that was in Soviet cinema is missing, – said Dmitry Pevtsov.
The filming took place on the same destroyer “Bystry” – it had already been decommissioned from the Pacific Fleet, but the film crew was allowed to use it. I had to paint it to make it look as authentic as possible. As the creators of the film note, they tried to make everything as realistic as possible. The filming also took place in the small village of Aginskoye in the Trans-Baikal Territory, in the same house where Aldara Tsydenzhapov’s relatives still live. Since childhood he wanted to serve in the navy, like his grandfather.
According to the producers and actors, the film could have been just a documentary, but the creators of the project decided to make a full-fledged film. There is the hero’s family, his relationship with his girlfriend and his sincere love for his homeland. Then he turned out to be alive, a clear proof of this is the vivid emotions, sometimes with tears in their eyes, of the audience in the hall.
Photo: Pacific Meridians Press Service Photo.
The main role in the film was played by Bato Shoinzhonov, an actor from the Buryat Drama Theatre in Ulan Ude, where he has been working for four years after graduating from the Shchukin Theatre Institute. While preparing for the role, I talked to his parents and his sister, a school friend of the deceased sailor, and learned from him more “children’s stories” that you don’t always learn from your parents. The actor served in the army, in an aviation regiment in the coastal town of Chernigovka, although he dreamed of the navy. The role in the film helped me make my dream come true, although I had to live it all “for real.”
“We were preparing, we did exercises, we closed the gaps from the side, from above… Water was pouring down from all sides, so the film will show the truth, how sailors act when an accident happens, everything for real,” Bato said, recalling the details of the filming. “We filmed those nine seconds that it took a nineteen-year-old boy to do his duty and save his comrades for two days. Honestly, it’s hard to understand how he decided to do this, but I honestly tried to convey it to the viewer.”
And the producers noted that they specially structured the shooting schedule in such a way as to emotionally prepare the actor for the difficult finale, so that he already “lived” the entire previous life of the hero. It is no secret that the filming of a movie often depends on the work of the actors and other circumstances, so the finale can be filmed before the beginning of the film.
Music for the film by Alexey Rybnikov. After reading the script, he replied succinctly to the producers’ proposal: “I’m ready!” And the song that the sailors sing with such emotion with their guitar was written by a non-professional author, a military sailor. That’s probably why it sounds so sincere.
The premiere of the film will take place on September 20 in Chita, and on September 21 in Aginskoye, Aldar Tsydenzhapov’s hometown. The film will have a wide release on September 26.
RG Information: The film “9 Seconds” was created with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the assistance of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The screening of the film in Vladivostok was organized by the team of the international film festival of Asia-Pacific countries “Pacific Meridians”. The film was previously planned to open the festival this year, but due to various circumstances it did not take place. However, the cultural project “Events of the Pacific Meridians” has been implemented. An exhibition dedicated to the history of the festival, which was held for the first time 20 years ago, is being organized within the framework of the Arka gallery, and lectures and master classes are being organized. Films from the traditional festival programs “Made in Vladivostok” and “Made in the Far East” will be shown in the park named after Yul Brynner (a Hollywood star born in Vladivostok).
