The Portrait (film)
| The Portrait | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Anastasia Elena Baranoff & Elena Vladimir Baranoff |
| Produced by | Anastasia Elena Baranoff & Elena Vladimir Baranoff |
| Screenplay by | Anastasia Elena Baranoff & Elena Vladimir Baranoff |
| Based on | The Portrait by Nikolai Gogol |
| Music by | Kuzma Bodrov |
| Cinematography | John Lee |
Production companies |
Tempera Movement |
The Portrait is a forthcoming film adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s short story The Portrait, created by fine artists, directors/screenwriters/producers Anastasia Elena Baranoff and Elena Vladimir Baranoff.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Plot
In 19th century Imperial Saint Petersburg two stories interweave together around a mysterious portrait painting.
Gifted, starving young artist Andrei Chartkov is on the verge of perfecting his talent, only to be seduced by money mystically appearing in his life by the force of a lifelike portrait he accidentally stumbles upon in an art shop.
Beguiled by the luster of gold and the life that comes with it, he forsakes his ideals to become a fashionable painter.
Turning his back on professional integrity, Chartkov does everything he can to rise up in society, gaining great wealth and status, ultimately to suffer from jealous rage, realizing that his talent had been wasted for nothing.
The mysterious portrait is revealed to be the image of a Moneylender. Years before Chartkov, the Moneylender, on a quest for eternal existence, commissions a pious icon writer, to paint his very likeness.
Losing the life he knew, the icon writer goes on an emotional journey to cleanse himself of the influence of the portrait, living a life of a recluse.
Production
The production features a UK and Russian cast and crew.
Development
The film project was initiated in the summer of 2011 in Southern California, where the first pages of the screenplay where composed in the fine art studio of the film’s directors/screenwriters/producers Anastasia Elena Baranoff and Elena Vladimir Baranoff.
Nikolai Gogol’s mystical and emotionally stirring 19th century short work of fiction The Portrait, with its expressive characters and creative plot, inspired the two fine artists to transform the story into a film.
The two wrote the screenplay, adding new characters and scenes to the story, all the while respectfully staying true to Gogol’s style.
Location
The production has been granted unprecedented access to and shall film the entire feature inside historic interiors of estates, palaces and fine art museums in Russia.
External links
References
- ↑ Screen International , Berlin Film Festival, 12 February 2016.
- ↑ Russian Art and Culture “Gogol’s “The Portrait” adapted for the screen by an international team of talents”, London, 29 January 2016.
- ↑ Kinodata.Pro Russia, 12 February 2016.
- ↑ Britshow.com 16 February 2016.
- ↑ Screen International , 23 June 2014.
- ↑ Russian Art and Culture “Gogol’s short story The Portrait to be made into feature film”, London, 4 July 2014.
- ↑ The Portrait – Official Website