White Snow

White Snow
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nikolay Khomeriki
Written by	Timur Khvan Marat Kim Tatyana Guryanova Aleksandr Guryanov Andrey Kureichik
Produced by	Timur Khvan Aleksey Ryazantsev Marat Kim Ulyana Savelyeva Pavel Loginov Nadezhda Churkina
Starring	Olga Lerman Fyodor Dobronravov Nadezhda Markina Anna Ukolova Aleksandr Ustyugov Mikhail Bespalov Darya Ekamasova
Cinematography	Fedor Lyass
Music by	Aleksey Aygi
Production company	EGO Production
Distributed by	CaroRental
Release dates	December 2020 (2020-12) (Window to Europe) March 4, 2021 (2021-03-04) (Russia)
Running time	127 minutes
Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Box office	₽>55.4 million ~$1 million[1]

White Snow (Russian: Белый снег, romanized: Bely sneg) is a 2020 Russian biographical sports drama film directed by Nikolay Khomeriki. The film is based on real events that happened at the 1997 FIS Cross-Country World Cup. For the first time in the history of the competition, a man or woman skier Yelena Vyalbe played by Olga Lerman won five out of five gold medals in all events entered.^[2][3]

It is scheduled to be theatrically released on March 4, 2021 by CaroRental.^[4]

Plot^[5][]

The film tells about a girl named Lena Trubitsyna from Magadan, Soviet Union, who has become a successful sportswoman and participates in the World Ski Championships.

In 1997, at the World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway and for the first time in the history of World Championship skiing, a skier, Russian Yelena Vyalbe, won five gold medals out of five possible.

Returning the awards to Russia, Vyalbe goes on a tour of Norway. There she learns more about the Norwegian monarchy, as she is interested in the history of the royal family. The king learns about Vyalbe in Norway and invites her to the royal palace. The conversation is about the merits of skiing. The king is of course a ski enthusiast and invites Vyalbe to coach the Norwegian ski team. Vyalbe suddenly remembers the whole past through a flashback that starts from the very beginning and ends with a momentous day in Trondheim.^[6]

Cast[]

• Olga Lerman as Yelena Vyalbe (also tr. Elena Vyalbe), a Soviet and Russian cross-country skier
  • Angelina Vyalbe as Yelena 'Lena' Trubitsyna, 8 years old
  • Polina Vataga as Yelena 'Lena' Trubitsyna, 14 years old
• Fyodor Dobronravov as Viktor, grandfather
• Nadezhda Markina as Militsa, grandmother
• Anna Ukolova as Yelena's mother
• Aleksandr Ustyugov as Maksimych, instructor
• Mikhail Bespalov as Trubitsyn, a taxi driver
• Darya Ekamasova as Irina Makarova
• Anna Kotova as Larisa Lazutina
• Vadim Andreyev as Petr
• Dmitriy Podnozov as Grushin
• Aleksander Gorbatov as Yuriy 'Yura'
• Polina Chernyshova as Nina Gavrylyuk
• Ekaterina Ageeva as Olga Danilova
• Aleksandr Klyukvin as Zharov, a sports commentator
• Vladimir Kapustin as Voronin
• Natalya Tereshkova as Tamara Tikhonova
• Lasse Lindberg as King of Norway
• Johan Elm as Urmas Välbe (also tr. Urmas Vyalbe)
• Stepan Rival as Franz
• Artyom Eshkin as Ilya
• Mariya Bystrova as Trude Dybendahl
• Odd Helge Brugrand as Norwegian policeman

Production[]

Yelena Vyalbe was awarded the medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", I class.

The concept of the film is based on a large-scale biopic set in the winter ski mountains of Russia and Estonia. The filmmakers presented a film about historical and legendary records in cross-country skiing, recorded in the history of sports by the Russian athlete Yelena Vyalbe. Since February 1997, at Granåsen Ski Centre in Trondheim, Norway, at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1997, one of the most striking events in the history of Russia and the world of sports took place: a woman won gold in all five cross-country skiing competitions. Yelena Vyalbe was a simple resident of Magadan.

However, the audience witnessed the preservation of sportsmanship and perseverance as the Russian skier gained recognition from Norway. The skier was the only woman to set such a sports record. The filmmakers have known Vyalbe since the 90s as a beacon of Russian pride. They bought White Snow for the screens, which, in their opinion, is part of the collective consciousness of Russia as a whole. According to director Nikolay Khomeriki, «I was hooked in this story that through the story of one strong man the story of the whole country is being told...».

From the production of the film company EGO Production - White Snow is a reliable retelling of events, permission for which was given by Yelena Vyalbe herself. Today Yelena Vyalbe is the president of the All-Russian public organization "Russian Ski Racing Federation", head of the Russian Ski Sports Association, multiple world and Olympic champion. When White Snow was in production, Vyalbe provided support at all stages of filming, including script adjustments and even advice to actresses who played challenging roles in real-life skiing conditions.^[7]

Especially for the filming of the film, Atomic and Fischer made skis of the 1997 design.

Filming[]

Principal photography began in 2020, the film was shot in the ski mountains of Magadan, Moscow, Russia^[8] and Tallinn, Pärnu, Estonia.

A professional sports team of 26 people took part in the filming of the film in the town of Kirovsk, Murmansk Oblast - members of the Russian national skiing team, winners of the World Cup stages, winners of the World Ski Championships, champions and prize-winners of the Russian Championship, an international judge.

The champion's granddaughter Yelena Vyalbe at the age of 8 played Angelina Vyalbe in the children's role.

Release[]

White Snow was the opening film of the 18th international festival "Window to Europe Film Festival". The event took place in December 2020 in the town of Vyborg. In total, the competition program included eleven full-length feature films.^[9][10]

The film premiered in Russia on March 4, 2021, the Russian distributor is the film company "CaroRental".

References[]

External links[]

• White Snow at IMDb