Ilsur Metshin: “It’s a good visualization, I pictured it almost like that reading a novel”

(KZN.RU, September 12, Regina Nurulina). The shooting of the film based on Guzel Yakhina's book “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” began in the Laishevsky district of Tatarstan. The taiga village of Semruk is completely reproduced on the set where the main character Zuleikha lives along with other exiles in the second part of the book. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, inspected the process and organization of shooting. He met with the performer Chulpan Khamatova and the author of the sensational novel Guzel Yakhina, shared his impressions of reading the novel, and appreciated the bright visualization on the set.

While inspecting the shooting locations, Ilsur Metshin congratulated Chulpan Khamatova and Guzel Yakhina on the start of shooting in the republic. He wished that everything would turn out as the author and the whole team expected. Accompanied by Ilya Papernov, the executive producer of the film company “Russkoe”, and Azat Abzalov, the head of the Department of Culture, he examined the curfew, dining room and the club building, assessed the views that open to the Volga-Angara from the windows of the buildings.

Ilsur Metshin appreciated the bright visualization. “When you read, you certainly picturing how it was. Reading the novel, I'd imagined it almost like that. Our Volga is like the Angara, all buildings, entourage, the atmosphere correspond to the description”. The head of the city called the novel of Guzel Yakhina a great work. “The great book or movie for is when you do not want to part with the heroes on the last pages. When I read the novel, it literally got me. Today there are more than 25 translations of the work around the world. “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” lives her life, glorifies our people, traditions, a difficult destiny”.

Ilsur Metshin also pictured Chulpan Khamatova as Zuleikha. “It's not just about being a talented actress, it's about knowing the way of life, the traditions of our people. I think that this is not just the right one, but the only possible option”, said the Mayor and promised to support the actress in all her undertakings. In addition, he invited her to participate in the opening of the festival “Aksenov-fest”, which will be held in the city from 13 to 16 of September.

In the spring of this year, Ilsur Metshin met with the author of the work Guzel Yakhina and promised to provide support in her film adaptation. “Our task is to help organizationally so that creative people can work as efficiently as possible, create comfortable conditions for the project”, said Azat Abzalov about the role of the Executive Committee in the implementation of the project. “We are now on the site, which is built from scratch. This is a large amount of work. And there are a lot of such sets, including in Kazan, where historical shooting will take place. All this affects the rhythm of the big city. We have to block the movement of vehicles, there are certain difficulties for the academic buildings of universities, office buildings, and administrative buildings”.

In Kazan, the shooting is planned on Kremlevskaya Street (near the Kazan Federal University), in the Kazan Kremlin, on the street Karl Marks (near KNRTU-KHTI). The interiors of the house-museum of Arbuzov were chosen for the filming of the cabinet, in which Professor Leibe held meetings. The film company wants to shoot a scene, where Zuleikha meets a bear at the creek, on the Goluboe Lake.

The administration of the city helped and in the organization of auditions that took place in the renovated CLC Lenin.

The filming in Tatarstan is scheduled to be completed on October 26-28. Then the film crew will return to Kazan when the snow falls, said Ilya Papernov. “We will make a diversion. Kremlevskaya Street will not be cleaned from the snow for several days to make it look more alike as it was in the novel”. He also thanked the Kazan City Hall for the support.

Preparation of the film set in the Laishevsky district took three months. During this time, 22 buildings appeared on the site.

Since the morning Guzel Yakhina was on the set. During this time, she managed to meet with Chulpan Khamatova, discuss the scenario with her and what is happening on the site. The writer noted the brilliant team. “I saw how they exist in the frame, and it is very cool! I’m happy that Chulpan is in it. When I wrote this book, her image was with me from the very beginning. I'm also very happy about the performers of other roles: Sergey Makovetsky as Professor Leibe, Alexander Sirin as Konstantin Arnoldovich, Roman Madyanov as Zinovy Kuznets”.

According to Guzel Yakhina, what we see on the set does not necessarily have to correspond to the author's idea. It is important, how it will be shown in the film. “The space that you and I have behind our backs is a cinema space. It must live on the screen, not in reality. I wandered with great interest over this space and learned something new for myself”. For example, the author was amazed by the fact that the houses in the village were made of different colors so that, being in one frame, they formed a deeper background.

A long-running series of films should be produced as a result of the film adaptation of the novel. In total, it will consist of 8 series. The shooting is conducted by the film company “Russkoe” commissioned by the Rossiya 1 television channel.