Two episodes of the Identifikatsiya (Identification) series will premiere at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival as part of the European Film Market. The series was directed by Vladlena Sandu, with Lena Tronina, Roman Vasiliyev and Oleg Vasilkov playing the lead roles.
The series will be released in Russia on the PREMIER online cinema in winter 2022.
Identifikatsiya, a project by 1-2-3 Production studio and producers Valeriy Fedorovich and Evgeny Nikishov, has already been presented at multiple major international screenings. For example, its pilot episode had its world premiere in 2019 in Lille, France as part of the Series Mania competition program. The pilot was also presented in Switzerland at the competition program of the Geneva International Film Festival, at the Berlin and Moscow Film Festivals and the Dukh Ognya (Spirit of Fire) debut festival in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The series was well-received by the Russian and foreign press, but then became one of the first quarantine “victims” - filming had to be paused for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The entire film crew was able to return to filming in 2021 and the first episode made it into the new “Series” section at the Kinotavr festival in Sochi, Russia.
The plot centers around a young woman called Valeriya, played by Lena Tronina. Valeriya is an orphan who lives and works at an outdoor market. She converts to Islam and marries Aman, the younger bother of her married employer Bakir, who is also trying to get her attention. Bakir is killed during the wedding and Valeriya becomes the main suspect. Even early on when Valeriya is held at the pre-trial detention center, it becomes clear that she is not who she claims to be. But does this mean that she is guilty of murder?