Telegram channel “Agency” reported on the letter with the headline “”The Birth of an Empire“ — don’t miss the premiere”. In the mailing, the film is called “large-scale national cinema” about the Battle of Poltava and the victory that, according to the letter, “turned the Tsardom of Moscow into the Russian Empire and confirmed its status as Europe’s leading power”.
It also says: “This is a story about faith and loyalty, an unbending will to victory, and our great ancestors”. The message ends with a call to “gather the whole family on the eve of National Unity Day — discover the history of the birth of our great power”, and young people up to and including 22 years old are offered the “Pushkin Card”.
The film was directed by Andrey Kravchuk, known for “Admiral” and “Union of Salvation”, and Peter I was played by Alexander Gorbatov, who appeared in the series “GDR” and the film “The Aviator”. Production was handled by the studio “TRITE”, the TV channel “Russia”, and “Central Partnership”, and the producers were Nikita Mikhalkov, Leonid Vereshchagin, and the first deputy CEO of VGTRK, Anton Zlatopolsky.
The Cinema Fund approved 800 million rubles in non-repayable subsidies for production. According to some reports, the film’s total budget exceeded 2 billion rubles, and Igor Sechin’s “Rosneft” became the film’s general partner.
The film’s release on October 29 was timed to coincide with the 305th anniversary of the proclamation of the Russian Empire: on November 2, 1721, Peter I assumed the title of Emperor of All Russia. On October 22, Putin told Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin that he had already watched “The Birth of an Empire”, called the film “a true work of art”, and praised the actors’ performances.
Later, presidential cultural adviser Elena Yampolskaya said that the battles of Poltava, Kulikovo, and Borodino, Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, and the current war against Ukraine are “all, in fact, one historical storyline”. On October 26, the head of the Association of Cinema Owners, Alexey Voronkov, proposed allocating a budget to compensate for ticket prices and using more than 2,000 cinemas opened with support from the Ministry of Culture.
In St. Petersburg, the municipal district of Lakhta-Olgino has already announced free screenings of “The Birth of an Empire” for residents on October 31 and November 1.
