ScreenDaily article announced yesterday that IFC Midnight picked up the North American rights for the Russian sci-fi thriller Sputnik. This is filmmaker Egor Abramenko’s directorial debut and is based off of his 2017 short film The Passenger. It was bound for Tribeca until the festival`s postponement due to the global health crisis.
The story takes place at the height of the Cold War as a Russian psychologist is assigned to treat a cosmonaut whose Soviet spaceship has crashed-landed on Earth. As the psychologist assesses the returning commander’s mental state it becomes clear he may unwittingly have brought something dangerous back to Earth.
Upon seeing the news I started bugging some of the lads at XYZ Films, asking after a trailer, seeing as they negotiated the sale of the film. Our lord and master, Todd Brown, who is part of the XYZ Films family as well, was somehow psychically connected with me and posted this trailer you can find below. I didn't get around to asking him yet. It was like he knew! Creepy.
IFC Midnight plans to release Sputnik in select theatres, digital platforms, and cable VOD on August 14th, 2020. Plans to. Expect at the very least digital access to the film, due to 'Merica's current struggles to manage the outbreak of Covid-19.
It had been scheduled for theatrical in Russia on April 16th through Sony Pictures, but due to theatre closures because of Covid-19 it will now debut digitally on Russian platforms on April 23rd.
Oksana Akinshina from Lilya-4-Ever stars alongside Fedor Bondarchuk in Egor Abramenko’s directorial debut based on his acclaimed 2017 Fantastic Film Festival short The Passenger.Arianna Bocco, IFC Films executive vice-president of acquisitions and productions, said: “Egor has created a stunning film with Sputnik in the vein of the classic sci-fi epics that captivate US audiences. We’re thrilled to bring this visually impressive debut to audiences across the country.”Abramenko added, “I’m excited to share my film with American audiences. I was inspired by many American films when making Sputnik so it’s a very important country for me to show this film. I am so happy to be partnering with IFC Midnight who represent a great family of international filmmakers.”
Russia really seems to have a firm grip on this isolation creature feature business, a la The Thing or Alien. Back in February there was buzz about the trailer for a film called The Superdeep that was pulled down as quick as it appeared. It was impressive, this trailer for Sputnik looks even better.