On July 1, 2016, WTW Films Limited initiated the joint production of the 12-episode television series Contact. Filming will be carried out in Kiev and will continue until December. The series will be broadcast in 2017.
Kateryna Vyshnevska, Head of Development at WTW Films Limited, talked about the idea behind the project and its international potential: “For quite some time now, we’ve had a feeling there’s a need for crime drama ‘with a twist’, hence the idea of Contact was born. Turns out we were right. Contact is a serialised drama with sci-fi / paranormal elements. The story is great. On the surface it’s a crime investigation flavoured with a mysterious component. However, as you dig deeper, big questions dealing with a nature of crime and personal responsibility come up. This is not a classic ‘whodunit’ story. We know who the culprit is from episode one. The response from broadcasters has been great, and we already have broadcast homes for the series in our key markets.”
Sergey Demidov, the executive producer of Contact, discussed the technical challenges presented by the project: “From a production point of view, this is a particularly interesting project. It presents a number of significant challenges which demand creative solutions. We will be using the latest technology. An Osmo camera is being specially provided, and a Milo Motion Control rig, which will be used for shooting outdoors at a quarry. That will allow us to maneuver the camera across a three-dimensional space and provide the viewer with the most realistic possible view of a supernatural explosion.
The main roles will be played by Alexander Semchev, Pavel Barshak, Ekaterina Malikova and Andrey Smirnov.
The television rights to the project have already been acquired by leading TV channel in Russia.
Project details:
The Secret services hold a controlled explosion in a location where magnetic disturbances have been documented. Accidentally, three people find themselves in the explosion zone. They are Vladimir Golenko, a young man with a criminal record; Oleg Malinin, a photographer; and Venedikt Tartakovsky, a failed writer who now works as a small-time accountant. As a result of the explosion, a strange connection is established among these people – Malinin is now able to read Golenko’s criminal mind and even see the world through his eyes; Tartakovsky can now control Golenko’s actions and communicate with Malinin remotely. Able to control Golenko, Tartakovsky chooses to use the latter to take vengeance on all those who interfered with his life. A series of bloody murders shakes up the city. Malinin realizes that his recurring visions are real and goes to the police with the idea of averting the crimes. Easier said than done. The officers first suspect him of complicity to the crimes and then report him to a psychiatric ward. To stop the crimes, Malinin will have to escape the psychiatric ward and launch his own investigation, while all the time hiding from the police. The closer he gets to the criminal, the more sophisticated the crimes planned by Tartakovsky become...
