Russia’s STALINGRAD To Be Released In IMAX 3D Format October 2013

IMAX and Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky (JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR) today announced that the World War II 3D epic STALINGRAD will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® 3D format and released in IMAX® theatres in Russia and the CIS in October 2013. This marks the first Russian-language film to be released in the IMAX format.

Directed by Fyodor Bondarchukand starring Pyotr Fedorov and Thomas Kretschmann, the movie recounts the Battle of Stalingrad, a turning point in the Second World War in which Soviet troops fought and eventually won control over the South Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), occupied by Nazi troops in February 1943. STALINGRAD is produced by Non-Stop Production (subsidiary of AR Films) and Art Pictures Studio.

As one of IMAX’s fastest-growing international markets, with 22 theatres currently open and 23 more in backlog, Russia and the CIS is home to some of IMAX’s highest-grossing theatres in the world. In 2011, four of the top 20 highest-grossing international IMAX sites were located inRussia and the CIS, with these sites producing a combined weighted per screen average of $2.7 million.

“We are proud that IMAX has chosen our film to be the first Russian production presented in the IMAX 3D format,” said Alexander Rodnyansky, Producer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of A.R. Films. “We believe that by combining the incredible directional style of Fyodor Bondarchuk with IMAX’s amazing technology, we will be able to make the powerful story of Stalingrad the ultimate movie-going experience for Russian audiences.”

“We are pleased to join forces with AR Films, one of the country’s most prominent and successful filmed entertainment companies, to bring this historic film to movie-goers across Russia,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “Russia is one of our key markets with a tremendous IMAX fan base and we hope that Stalingrad will be the first of many Russian local-language films presented in the IMAX format.”

“Producer Alexander Rodnyansky and director Fyodor Bondarchukare responsible for some of Russia’s most successful films and we are honored to be partnering with them on this epic motion picture,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “STALINGRAD brings together these talented filmmakers with a powerful story that — when presented in IMAX — will offer Russian audiences the ‘you-were-there’ experience that IMAX is known for.”

STALINGRAD: An IMAX 3D Experience will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX®3D. The crystal-clear images, coupled withIMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique immersive environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

STALINGRAD is a drama set in 1942, during one of the most important battles of World War II, which stopped the progress of Nazi forces and turned the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Soviet army mounts a counter-attack on the Nazi forces that occupy half of Stalingrad on the other side of the Volga, but the operation to cross the river is unsuccessful. A few soldiers who managed to get to the other side take refuge in a house on the bank of Volga. Here they find a girl who didn’t escape when the Germans came. While the whole might of the German army descends onto them, the heroes of Stalingrad experience love, loss, joy and the sense of ultimate freedom that can only be felt by those about to die.  They defend the house at all costs while the Red Army prepares for another attack.

About AR Films

Alexander Rodnyansky, Russian film/television producer and media executive, is the founder of the Ukrainian TV-channel 1+1 and former CEO of the biggest independent publicly traded media conglomerate in Russia- CTC Media(Nasdaq: CTCM). He has produced over 20 TV-series and more than 30 films including East/West (1999), A Chef in Love (1997), The 9th Company(2005), Heat (2006), The Inhabited Island(2009), Innocent Saturday (2011), and Elena (2011). Two of his films were nominated for Oscars in the “Best Foreign Language Film” category.  In 2011 a film directed by Andrei Zvyagintsevand produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, Elena, received the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard. The first U.S. project produced by Alexander Rodnyansky – Billy Bob Thornton’s Jayne Mansfield’s Car, starring Robert Duval, John Hurt, Kevin Bacon, Ray Stevenson and Billy Bob Thornton, will premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

AR Films is an international filmed entertainment company. Founded in 2009 by Alexander Rodnyansky, AR Films now has production and distribution capabilities in 22 countries in Eastern andCentral Europe,Russia and the U.S. These include ownership of one of the biggest film licensing and distribution corporations in Central andEastern Europe; A Company; Russian movie production company Non-Stop Production; the leader in the distribution of independent films, Cinema Without Frontiers (Kino Bez Granits); and the most influential film festival in Russia – Kinotavr.

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