About the Film

A mysterious, metaphor‑driven motion picture whose genre contours shift like sea mirages. A philosophical parable disguised as a mystical road movie, where contemporary aesthetics converse with the grand tradition of large‑form Soviet cinema.

The director has woven an astonishing mosaic of cultural and historical forms: classical motifs (Homer’s Odyssey, Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris), archetypal tales such as Sleeping Beauty and the Russian folk story of Ivan‑Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf, Astafiev’s The Tsar‑Fish, as well as references to the Russian medieval travel chronicle The Journey Beyond Three Seas.

Yet beneath this symbolic richness lies the story of ordinary people caught in the whirlpool of history and forced to fight for life. In the world of The Wind, which has endured wars, epidemics and catastrophes, the familiar moral order has vanished, giving rise to new ideas about ethics, faith and reality itself.

“The Wind” is a discursive film that distils the meaning of human existence into one searing question: “How will we go on living?” Like the wind itself, that question sweeps through the entire picture, pushing the viewer to seek an answer in the labyrinth of their own thoughts.

Sergey Chliyants is an artist.

The elements of "relevance"

have a philosophical

in his "post-apocalypse"

historical tint

SERGEY UGOLNIKOV, "ZAVTRA"

SERGEY CHLIYANTS

Producer of cult Russian 2000‑s titles such as Bummer, The Tuner, Mama Don’t Cry, Down House, Alive and others. A man who knows how to balance commercial success with auteur statement.

DIRECTOR

As a director he debuted in 1993 with the crime drama Straight Ahead, based on Sergei Dovlatov’s stories. The picture won a Kinotavr special prize and screened in Cannes.

The Wind is Chliyants’ second directorial work and marks his return to cinema after a long silence.

I understand perfectly

well that cinema is a business,

it is the creation of meanings

but first and foremost

Sergey Chliyants

Screenwriters

Petr Lutsyk

Alexey Samoryadov

The film's script was written in 1993 by the legendary screenwriting tandem of Petr Lutsyk and Alexey Samoryadov.

Together with earlier films The Outskirts and Wild Field, The Wind forms a triptych about life on the Russian outskirts in troubled times.

This is a film about aching fatalism.

It is no longer possible to refuse to do evil,

as well as to avoid retribution for it.

fingers. As if you had not died, but simply dozed off

costs almost nothing. But you can also resurrect with a snap of your

Fortunately, there is one saving nuance:

to kill or die in the story of Lutsik and Samoryadov

MAXIM GREVTSEV. KINO-TEATR.RU

Logline

Fisherman Ivan Morozov, leaving behind his young wife Katya, sets out promising to return with food, money and a dress worthy of her beauty. Accompanied by a chance travelling companion, Sergey Volkov, Ivan must cross the harsh Russian wasteland and make a dreadful choice that will change his fate forever.

Daniil
Feofanov

Graduate of the Moscow Art Theatre School, actor of the Moscow Art Theatre. In his performance, the authors found that very "psychophysical speed" and charisma necessary for a hero balancing on the edge of survival.

Principal cast – Ivan Morozov

Serafima
Goschanskaya

A GITIS alumna taught by Oleg Kudryashov. Her screen presence embodies a mystical mismatch with the surrounding world. The prototype for Katya was Marina Vlady in the dusk‑lit drama “The Witch”.

Principal cast – Katya

Oleg Vasilkov

The sole veteran screen actor among the leads; won “Best Actor” at the 23rd Spirit of Fire International Debut Film Festival for this role.

Principal cast – Segey Volkov

Key supporting characters

Nikolai Chindyaykin

Evgeny Kharitonov

Filipp Ilyich, the village’s informal leader

Skovorodnikov, head of a religious‑philosophical commune

Filming locations

One reason The Wind could not be shot in the mid‑1990 s was its production complexity and variety of sets and landscapes.

The picture was filmed across nine Russian regions: the Rostov and Volgograd oblasts, the Caucasus and the Taman Peninsula, and the steppes of Stavropol Krai and Kalmykia. The closure of southern airports complicated logistics, yet the chosen natural locations were irreplaceable and unrivalled.

Music

Dmitry Pavlov

Tais Logvinenko

Gustav Mahler

Nina
Kraviz

The original soundtrack for "Wind" was written by composer Dmitry Pavlov in accordance with the emotional atmosphere of the film.

The final credits feature a song performed by Tais Logvinenko with lyrics by Polina Orynyanskaya – they were written especially for the film, poetically framing the metaphors of life and death embedded in the story of “Wind”.

The soundtrack also features traditional Cossack songs, creating an authentic and historically accurate sound palette.

Classical music, represented by Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, is juxtaposed in the film with the contemporary deep house of Nina Kraviz - this mixture of genres and eras creates the unique combination of relevance and timelessness of Wind.

Year of production: 2025.
Film production is completed
Distribution certificate: 16+.

Premiere: 7 March 2025, 23rd Spirit of Fire IFF (Khanty‑Mansiysk, 5–9 March 2025).

Aspect ratio: 2.39
Running time: 123 min
Frame rate: 24 fps
Master format: DCP