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| Taya Radchenko as Hera in Empire V |
Given the political climate this year, one does not expect to encounter Russian films at festivals, but Empire V is something a little different. A vampire-themed satire banned in its homeland, it’s a film which the government in Moscow would rather you didn’t see – and the Fantasia International Film Festival has given it a platform.
Even if it weren’t for that, the chances are that this film would attract a lot of attention. It’s based on the book by Viktor Pelevin, which has been a hit beyond Russian borders. When I met up with director Victor Ginzburg, who was born in Russia but now lives in Venice Beach in California, he told me how Pelevin urged him to take on the project and how, despite attempts at sabotage, he hopes that audiences will get the chance to appreciate the work of his carefully chosen cast.
“Pelevin is, I think, a monumental Russian contemporary writer, a postmodernist writer,” he tells me, sitting back in a comfortable chair in a room full of books. “My previous film, Generation P, was based on his most important novel, and this, in a way, is a sequel. It's kind of a philosophical sequel to Generation P. And when I was in post on Generation P, Pelevin showed up, which is kind of a rare event. He's a complete recluse, not to be seen by anyone ever. So anyway, he not only showed up but he literally put a manuscript on my desk, Empire V, and he said ‘This is the sequel and you'll find out who the goddess Ishtar is.’ In Generation P at the end, that's one of those mystical storylines, this concept of this Babylonian Goddess that rules the world. So that's how I got into the book. I almost had no choice. I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to make this movie.’”
It’s quite an introspective book. Did that make it difficult to adapt for the screen?
“Yeah, you’re right. I mean, that was quite a challenge, because there's a lot of interior monologues that the main character is going through in trying to make sense of this new reality that he's suddenly found himself in. Visually, it was a striking story for me, though, and I tried to find this balance between the philosophical part of this story and the spectacle. I was trying to make this story accessible to a larger audience than the book, because it is an intellectual book. I really aimed to make this accessible to young people, in Russia specifically, because I think it's an important message. Not that it's a message movie – it isn't – but these concepts are very important, I think, to Russians, especially to the Russian youth. And so I try to find that balance between entertainment, just pure hallucinogenic immersions into these trips, these other dimensions really, and then still retain the conceptual part of the story and try to make that clear.”
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| Empire V |
I suggest that in a way he is trying to balance glamour and discourse – the chief tools of the vampires – which are, after all, also a filmmaker’s tools, and he laughs.
“Exactly, exactly! Yeah, exactly. It was about balancing glamour and discourse too.”
It’s also showing us the kind of glamour which appeals to a very young and inexperienced hero, which might not have the same effect on other people.
“Yeah, I mean, glamour is this added value of a product which is just this illusion of beauty that is used to seduce and brainwash the biomass, which humanity is to vampires, you know? I think, in a way, it is a story of fall from grace. The main character is challenged to become evil, essentially, and accept that. And I think the key thing for me was to show to a certain degree, his inner struggle with that was, you know, there's still hope at the end of this.”
Young Rama seems fascinated by the discovery that other people have been brainwashed, but not very aware that something similar is happening to him.
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, initially he enjoys it completely. This is fun. He seduces this beautiful girl. Initially, he's completely immersed in this. And then slowly he starts questioning, of course, what's going on with him, with the world. It's a very Russian film on many levels, and it has some very specific cultural references that Russians understand clearly, which will not be so obvious to English speaking viewers. At the same time, I think it is global satire. You know, I think this is a global issue, not just a Russian issue, the concept of humanity being ruled by a bunch of vampires.”
The Russian government seems to have taken it quite personally, I note. Did he expect it to react as it did?
“No, no. It's interesting, because there's no censorship in Russia, according to the constitution.” He smiles wryly. ‘This is pretty subtle satire on many levels. We seemed to be on a very clear path to release the film on 1,800 screens. It was booked by Sony. It was a blockbuster level release, that was already in the works. The advertising campaign was full on in all the movie theatres. There were trailers and posters everywhere, and it was full on, that ad campaign. And then a week before the release, after the press screening, they just pulled the plug on us.
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| Empire V Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival |
“They basically killed us in Russia. It was pretty nasty, because in March, at the moment when we were accepted into Fantasia, suddenly this copy of the unfinished film, appeared on the internet in Russia. We realised that it was a marked copy. Initially, it was a rough cut that was submitted to the Ministry of Culture to get a permit, so it was pure sabotage. They literally released a pirated version.”
Is it partly to do with the fact that it stars the rapper Oxxxymiron? My understand is that, because he spoke out against the war on Ukraine, he has been declared a foreign agent.
“Yes, he has. He was definitely one of the reasons we were banned. But that was something very clear that they could hang their hat on, because it would have been very difficult for them to ban us for no reason. That was like a perfect excuse. That was useful.”
So how did he handle the casting process, given the iconic nature of the characters? Was it a lengthy process?
“Oh, yeah, it was quite long – literally a couple of years. One of the most difficult casting choices was the girl, because I was really looking for someone out of this world, this very unusual young creature, and so we wound up doing this literally countrywide casting call with one of the glamour magazines in Russia. We had hundreds and hundreds of girls record a test. We actually used the video letter that she sent to Rama in the beginning, that was the model that we put out there. Hundreds and hundreds of girls from all over Russia recorded this monologue. That’s how we found Taya.
“I agree that it's a very interesting cast because the main actor was very young at the time. He was a teen, I think. He's the son of the preeminent Russian actor Oleg Tabakov, who died recently. And I just thought, you know, I needed somebody who is this perfect prince of darkness, and there he was. Of course, the actress who played the goddess Ishtar, Vera Alentova, was a great, great actress and she was in Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears. She was the lead in that, which won an Oscar for best foreign film. So she's she's kind of a legend.
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| Empire V poster |
“Of course, Oxxxymiron was perfect for me because of the duel. The end of the film is this duel in verse of course, and he became famous because of battle rap. I saw him in these battles in rap with these other rappers and I said ‘Okay, that's the perfect duelist.’ He knows that stuff really well. He'd never acted in a film, so I had three characters that were their first roles ever. That was Taya, Oxxxy, and Loki.
“Loki was this China expert. He's a Buddhist, and he lectures on Chinese wisdom, but I needed an old man who could run up walls and he knew how to do that. He knew all these martial arts, but he's a very peaceful guy. He walks around in these really soft moccasins. It's funny because I was working on making him tough, because in real life he's a sweetheart. Finally, I put him in cowboy boots. I said ‘Get rid of these soft shoes, put onn cowboy boots.’ And immediately he was transformed.”
We are running out of time, but before we finish, he wants to express his thanks to the festival for giving him this chance to screen his work.
“Oh, I'm so happy. I'm really grateful to Mitch Davis, who saw through all the politics. We had a lot of rejections from festivals just because of the fact that it's in Russian, and so Fantasia is a blessing.”
