Rhino (film)

Rhino (Носоріг) is a 2021 drama film written and directed by Oleg Sentsov, created as a co-production of Ukraine, Poland and Germany.

The world premiere of Rhino took place on September 9, 2021, at the 78th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section.

Plot
Starting out as an aggressive delinquent, a young man nicknamed “Rhino” quickly works his way up the criminal hierarchy in 1990s Ukraine. Rhino has only known power and cruelty, but with nothing left to lose, could he finally find a chance at redemption?

Budget
In July 2020, Ukraine's Council for State Support of Cinematography made a decision to support the Rhino film project – funding received from the Ukrainian State Film Agency was ₴25million, which amounted to about 50% of the film's total budget of ₴50million (€1.6million). Overall the film has received ₴46million (€1.45million) in funding from governmental film institutions which represents around 92% of the overall budget of ₴50million (€1.6million); speficifcally, the Ukrainian State Film Agency contributed 50% (₴25million / €800,000), the Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund contributed 17% (₴8.6million / €270,000),   the Polish Film Institute contributed 15% (₴7.5million / €232,600 / 1millionzł),    and the German film fund Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg contributed 10% (₴4.8million / €150,000).

Screenplay
The story centers around a gangster Rhino, who's trying to survive Ukraine's "wild 90s". In August–September 2021 in his interviews for Deadline Hollywood and The Hollywood Reporter Sentsov confessed that he decided to make a movie about Ukraine's wild crime-infested 90s because he believes that to date "[Ukraine hasn't made any] movies about the “wild” 90s". Sensov also shared that the prototype for the film's main character, Rhino, was one of Sentsov's friends.

Filming
In 2012 film's director and writer Oleh Sentsov presented Rhino film project at the industry platform of the Sofia International Film Festival, where it received awards for Best Project and Best Pitching. Additionally in 2012 Sentsov presented Rhino film project at the producer pitching meeting of Odesa International Film Festival where the project won a grant of ₴25 thousand. However, work on the film was suspended in 2014 due to Sentsov's illegal arrest by Russian security services and his subsequent incarceration. Work on the project only resumed after Oleh Sentsov was released by Russia in September 2019 as a part of Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange.

Filming began in July 2020 and ended in December 2020 and took place in Kryvyi Rih, Lviv and Kyiv.

The film is a co-production of Ukraine, Poland and Germany. The Ukrainian side of production is represented by producer Denys Ivanov's Arthouse Traffic and Oleh Sentsov's Cry Cinema. Polish partners are Apple Film Production, German – Ma.ja.de. film company. The international distributor of the film is WestEnd Films.

Promotion
On September 6, 2021, industry publication cineuropa.org released the first official international film poster. A day later on September 7, 2021, industry publication Deadline released the first official international film trailer. Fostylen magazine called the trailer impressive.

Release
The world premiere of Rhino took place on September 9, 2021, at the 78th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section; it was the closing film of the Orizzonti section.

Critical response
Rhino has an approval rating of 78% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 9 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10.

Awards and nominations

 * Venice Film Festival — Orizzonti Section, Nomination: Best Film
 * Batumi International Art-House Film Festival — International competition, Nomination: Best Film; Winner: Best Actor (Serhii Filimonov)
 * Warsaw Film Festival — International competition, Nomination: Best Film
 * Thessaloniki International Film Festival — Open Horizons, Non-Competition
 * CPH PIX — The Wild Side, Non-Competition
 * Stockholm International Film Festival — International competition, Winner: Best Film, Best Actor (Serhii Filimonov)
 * 52nd International Film Festival of India — International Panorama, Non-Competition
 * Les Arcs Film Festival — Playtime, Non-Competition
 * Ulsan International Film Festival — UIFF Premiere, Non-Competition
 * Sofia International Film Festival — Special screening, Non-Competition
 * Taipei Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival — Fantasy of the Year, Non-Competition
 * International Istanbul Film Festival — International competition, Nomination: Best Film
 * D'A Film Festival — Transicions, Nomination: Audience Award
 * Transilvania International Film Festival — TIFF For Ukraine, Non-Competition
 * Lubuskie Lato Filmowe — Main Competition, Winner: Best Film
 * Aegean Film Festival — Feature films, Non-Competition
 * Motovun Film Festival — Main Program, Nomination: Best Film
 * Atlàntida Mallorca Film Festival — Official Competition, Nomination: Best Film