Grandmother's Tales: How Altai Director's Film 'Wolves' Became a Sensation at Moscow Festival

The 18+ film «Wolves» by Altai director Mikhail Kulunakov won acclaim at the 47th Moscow International Film Festival. In a video, Mikhail talked about how the filming was done, why a blessing ceremony was held beforehand, how the film«s idea was born, and what difficulties the team faced.

In the film, a simple guy Tokna falls in love with the beautiful girl Kymyskay, who has caught the eye of a 40-year-old noble bachelor named Kutus. He decides to kidnap the girl, but she manages to escape to Tokna, after which the lovers hide in the mountains, and Kutus begins to take revenge on them, nursing a grudge.

According to Mikhail, the film is based on one of the stories his grandmother once told him. The script was written in just a week because Mikhail unexpectedly got a call from Moscow inviting him to present some new work at a pitching session in Yalta — he immediately agreed, even though he didn«t have any material ready.

The preparation for filming was also quite swift: the sets were assembled in less than a month, and the costumes in the 19th-century Altai aesthetic were made even faster. The shooting itself took 23 days. To learn more about how the filming went, what difficulties the crew faced, and why the blessing ceremony was necessary, read the article.