First Oscar
# First Oscar

First Oscar (Russian: Первый Оскар) is a 2022 Russian WWII film directed by Sergey Mokritskiy. The film produced by New People Film Company also stars Tikhon Zhiznevsky, Anton Momot and Darya Zhovner. The film is dedicated to the history of the creation of the Soviet documentary film Moscow Strikes Back directed by Ilya Kopalin and Leonid Varlamov, filmed in record time, was awarded the first ever Oscar for best feature-length documentary in 1943. This is the first Soviet "Oscar" received by Russian cinematographersmen for capturing the course of hostilities and find themselves in the center of the Battle of Moscow in 1941.

First Oscar was theatrically released in Russia on April 21, 2022, by Central Partnership.

## Plot

In 1941 at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. German troops on the outskirts of Moscow. Twenty-year-old young student cameramen Lev Alperin and Ivan Maisky refuse to leave for evacuation and seek to be sent to the front to be in the center of the grand battle for Moscow with cameras.

Lev Alperin and Ivan Maisky compete for the title of the best cameraman of the course and for the love of the beautiful Yuna from the acting department. When the evacuation begins, the three of them refuse to leave and go to the front: Yuna will perform in a concert team, and Ivan and Lev become military cameramen. Their rivalry continues here, but the trials and horrors of the war, the courage and exploits of the Soviet soldiers, which they witness, change their views on creativity and life. Only thanks to this they manage to shoot shots that will go down in history ...

In parallel with this, the viewer will see the peaceful life of Los Angeles, where the 15th Oscar ceremony of the year began with a sensation – the main Hollywood film award received a documentary from the Soviet Union.

Inspired by real events: filmed in record time, the documentary Moscow Strikes Back, directed by Ilya Kopalin and Leonid Varlamov, won the first ever Oscar for Best Documentary in 1943. This is the first Oscar received by domestic filmmakers.

## Cast

* Tikhon Zhiznevsky as Ivan Maisky
* Anton Momot as Lev Alperin
* Darya Zhovner [ru] as Yuna Gromova
* Andrey Merzlikin as Ilya Kopalin, a documentary film director
* Nikita Tarasov [ru] as Leonid Varlamov, a documentary film director
* Fyodor Lavrov as Anatoli Golovnya
* Vasily Mishchenko [ru] as studio director
* Mikhail Brashinsky as Iosif Alperin, Lev Alperin's father
* Natalya Pavlenkova as Lev Alperin's mother
* Sergei Puskepalis as Alexander Gromov, Yuna Gromova's father
* Stanislav Strelkov [ru] as Nikolai Vlasik

### Other cast

* Michael Lerner as Louis B. Mayer
* Austin Basis as David O. Selznick
* Robert L. Wilson as Howard Hawks
* Taissa Zveiter as Irene Mayer Selznick
* Eddie Vincent as a reporter
* Daniel Lench as Sid Grauman
* Mandy May Cheetham as Jane Murfin
* Colin Thomas Jennings as Perry Lieber
* Matt Lagan as Fred Beetson
* Paul Dinh-McCrillis as a photographer
* Jordan Laesch as Bob Hope

## Production

### Development

The New People Film Company has begun the Russian stage of filming the First Oscar project, which is dedicated to the memory of front-line operators. The film is made by the creative team of the film Battle for Sevastopol, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia invited director Sergey Mokritskiy to the Kremlin to present the award. During the ceremony, Sergey met producer Yegor Odintsov (ru), who told him the story of the first Oscar for Soviet cinema. Mokritskiy liked this story, because the topic of war was always close to him.

### Casting

The leading roles in the film First Oscar will be performed by Tikhon Zhiznevsky, Anton Momot, Darya Zhovner, and Andrey Merzlikin. In addition, Hollywood actors were invited to participate in the film, including Oscar nominee Michael Lerner and Austin Basis.

### Filming

Principal photography began on January 31, 2021, in the town of Medyn, Kaluga Oblast. On February 7, the film crew will move to the town of Aleksin, Tula Oblast: filming here will take place until April 30, with the organizational assistance of the Tula Region Film Commission under the government. The premiere of the drama is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the battle for Moscow.

## Release

### Theatrical

The premiere screening of the film First Oscar will take place on April 14 at the Khudozhestvenny cinema in Moscow. The film was theatrically released in the Russian Federation on April 21, 2022, by Central Partnership.

