Air (2023 Russian film)

Air (Воздух) is a 2023 Russian aviation film written and directed by Aleksei German Jr. about female pilots at the front during the Great Patriotic War, starring Anastasia Talyzina, Aglaya Tarasova and Kristina Lapshina.

It premiered on October 26, 2023 at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival. This film was theatrically released in Russia on January 18, 2024 by National Media Group Film Distribution.

Plot
The film is set during the Second World War. In the spring of 1942, fierce battles are taking place on the Leningrad Front; enormous human and technical resources are being spent on holding back the advance of German troops. Recruits are arriving in a mixed aviation regiment - female volunteers who will fly military aircraft. The future female pilots do not understand well what is happening, and the male staff, and they are the majority, treat the girls with distrust. They will have to not only prove that they can handle fighter jets just as well as men, but also overcome their fears and doubts every day.

Zhenya is a talented pilot whose only dream is to fly masterfully and defeat enemies. She feels more confident in the sky than on earth, since she has difficulty building relationships with others. Despite her young age, she has already experienced a lot, so she tries not to get close to anyone, so as not to experience the pain of loss again. But what Zhenya is running from is hot on her heels. She becomes the best pilot of the regiment, surpassing even experienced commanders with her skill, and the rest of the girls fly better and better. But despite the emotional distance she tries to keep from others, the deaths of her colleagues cannot help but touch her. And there are more and more of them.

Cast

 * Anastasia Talyzina as Evgenia 'Zhenya' Belova
 * Aglaya Tarasova as Ekaterina 'Katya'
 * Kristina Lapshina as Maria 'Masha'
 * Sergey Bezrukov as Alexey Astafiev
 * Elena Lyadova as Rita
 * Oleg Grinchenko as Captain Bondar
 * Anton Shagin as Volodya
 * Kristina Isaykina-Berger as Marina Yatsenko

Other cast

 * Igor Mityushkin as Pavel 'Pashechka', mechanic
 * Igor Korovin as Stepanov, technician
 * Anna Isaeva as Sveta, a nurse
 * Mariya Melnikova as a nurse
 * Vladimir Tyaptushkin as Timofey
 * Andrey Kondratyev as Konyakhin
 * Mariya Gerasimenko as Anya Savelyeva
 * Darya Shevelko as Shevelko, a female technician
 * Alyona Mityushkina as Mityushkina, a female technician
 * Marusya Furina as Medvedeva, a female technician
 * Polina Dudkina as Frolova, a female pilot
 * Polina Krasavina as Chumakova, a female pilot
 * Anna Musina as Novotortseva, a female pilot
 * Philip Dyachkov as Kirill, pilot
 * Ivan Ryabenko as a pilot
 * Mikhail Samarin as a pilot
 * Pyotr Logachev as a pilot

Production
Work on the film began in 2018. The budget amounted to 450 million rubles, the project received support from the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Cinema Foundation.

Filming
Principal photography began in 2018 and took place in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov and Astrakhan regions. However, the work was fraught with difficulties. At first, the group could not wait for snow on the Gulf of Finland, and in April 2020, filming was completely stopped due to the pandemic. In the fall of 2021, the second stage of the filming process began, which was completed in 2022.

During this time, material was filmed for all scenes of air battles.

Post-production
Together with XOVP - eXtraOrdinary Virtual Production, LED panel screens with a total area of 800m2 were built, gimbles for full-size aircraft models were used, the Unreal Engine, which came from the game world, In-Camera VFX technology, which made it possible to synchronously integrate graphics right on the set. 12 Yak-1B model aircraft were built, and wartime field airfields were recreated.

Marketing
The film's worldwide release took place at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2023. Then the director, production designer and several actresses went to Japan, including the performers of the leading roles Talyzina, Tarasova and Lyadova. It was released theatrically in the Russian Federation on January 18, 2024.