12 Russian film critics refused to give any evaluation of the series “Marek” directed by Igor Perov, which revolves around a participant in the war in Ukraine. Published by the critics themselves table With the ratings of the “Pilot” festival premiere angering Z bloggers; They blame experts for bias and “Russophobia.” The pilot organizing committee insists that the evaluations are a private initiative for journalists. We tell you the details.
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At the “Pilot” series festival in Ivanovo, the drama “Marik” directed by Igor Beroev, about a participant in the war in Ukraine, was shown. The main character, Mark, returns from Ukrainian captivity to his native Mariupol (which had already been captured by Russia at the time of the events) and gets a job as an emergency doctor. Serial really It was filmed In Mariupol, which was devastated by the war; Although devastation can be seen in the frame, the viewer is constantly made to understand that the city is being reborn.
At the same time, according to some critics, the creators of the project are holding back too much for reasons of self-censorship. “Maybe years will pass, and then cinema will have the courage to call a spade a spade. But in this case, we have what we have: a drama about trauma that is afraid of itself.” Reasons Vladimir Kirdyashov in a review for the series portal. “Few works ask so many questions and give so few answers.” He writes Yevgeny Tkachev in an article for Afisha Daily. “This speculative spectacle does not resemble outright propaganda at all, but neither does it amount to a complete statement, for it consists of nothing but omissions.”
“Marika” was produced by Yuri Sapronov’s film company “World Russian Studios”, which filmed the series “Poor Nastya” in the early 2000s. In recent years, she has left her mark, for example, with the “patriotic” melodrama “Lilies of the Valley”, in which the heroine leaves her rich fiancé for a simple police lieutenant from Vologda – and then he goes to fight with Ukraine.
Unlike other examples of “Z-cinema”, “Lilies of the Valley” is a truly successful project: as TASS wrote, the second season became the most popular series of 2026 on the Wink platform, with more than 200 million views. The melodrama was filmed with the support of the Internet Development Institute (IRI) – just like the new film “Marek”.
Perov, the actor known for his role as Erast Fandorin in the film “The Turkish Gambit”, supports A large-scale invasion from its early days. “Marek” is the third directorial work in his career and his first series.
father words Eyewitnesses, when the film crew came out to present the project at the Pilot Festival, a noticeable part of the audience left the hall. Later, out of 19 film critics who publicly evaluated “Pilot” premieres, 12 people refused to evaluate “Marek” in any way. in Table with ratingsThey were finally formed on June 21, and they put an X next to the title, meaning “Conflict of Interest, Missed Session, or Personal Decision.” Three experts gave Marek a half star out of five, another three gave one star, and one person gave three. As a result, Beroev’s drama received the lowest score among all the festival’s premieres – 1.07 points out of five possible. The festival table is an initiative of the film critics themselves; They are not part of the “Pilots” judging panel and have no influence on the awarding of the awards whatsoever.
For Z-space, the failure of “Marek” among film critics became an occasion to once again talk about the “fifth column” in the cultural environment. Pro-war speakers – such as Zakhar Prilepin – appeared regularly He writesThat in Russia there are not enough books, films and shows glorifying the participants in the war, and that cultural figures offer general escapism at best, and “enemy” narratives at worst. Bloggers on Z are repeating almost the same points today regarding Marek.
One of the most popular posts on the subject was written on June 25 by “military correspondent” Alexander Kuts, who runs the Kutsnews channel, followed by nearly half a million people. text Titled “12 Crosses Were Placed in the Film. Who Are You With, Masters of Culture?” Most [кинокритиков, участвовавших в голосовании] The general attitude towards SVO is a form of silence. They don’t talk. “They are simply very selectively silent,” Coates writes. – But when there is some kind of anti-Russian film, it is “New Sincerity.” And in relation to the SVO – the cross.
The post was shared by dozens of pro-war Telegram channels, including her Republished Dmitry Pevtsov is an actor, State Duma deputy, and strong supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
date Comment And propaganda Andrey Medvedev. “As we see, all film critics [из таблицы] They do not work for Soros and the State Department, but for the most popular federal publications/resources about cinema. Yes, most of them have always been liberal outposts. But, as it turned out after 4.5 years [войны]”Nothing has changed.”
After seeing the Z bloggers’ reaction to the film critics’ vote, the organizing committee for the film “Pilot”. Hurry I remind you that it has nothing to do with it. “The Festival does not comment on private initiatives of individual critics, which are not part of the official program and regulations of the Festival.”