Who If Not Us

1998 Russian film

1998 (1998)

Running time

89 min.CountryRussiaLanguageRussian

Who If Not Us (Russian: Кто, если не мы, romanized: Kto, esli ne my) is a Russian drama film by actor and director Valeriy Priyomykhov.^[1]

Filming began in 1993, but due to lack of funding the film didn't appear on the screen for 5 years.^[2]

Plot

Dreaming to get rich, teenagers Snakes and Tolya plunder the city's department store and as a result one find themselves in a colony, another in a lycee, which differs little from a colony. Having learned truly what solitude is, Snake accidentally gets acquainted with Gennady, an old man just like him, alone and difficult, dismissed from the police.

Cast

Yevgeny Krainov as Snakes
Artur Smolyaninov as Tolya
Valeriy Priyomykhov as Gennady Samokhin
Lyanka Gryu as Irochka
Tatyana Dogileva as head of parent committee
Albert Filozov as class teacher Anatoly Ignatievich
Yekaterina Vasilyeva as mother at the parents' meeting
Aleksei Panin as policeman
Nikolai Chindyajkin as colony supervisor
Ivan Okhlobystin as pathologist
Nadezhda Markina as Tolya's mother
Oleg Marusev as head teacher
Tatyana Kravchenko as Samokhin's girlfriend

Awards and nominations

Taormina Film Fest: Special Jury Prize (Valeriy Priyomykhov) — win
Kinotavr: Full-Length Film — nom; Prize of Presidential Council (Valeriy Priemykhov)^[3]
Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival: Starboy Award (Valeriy Priyomykhov) — nom
Nika Award: Best Screenplay (Valeriy Priyomykhov) — win; Best Director (Valeriy Priyomykhov), Best Actor (Valeriy Priyomykhov) — nom^[2]
Artek Film Festival: Young Artist Awards (Artur Smolyaninov) — win