MIPTV Spotlight: Russia Television and Radio/Sovtelexport

The volatility of 16th-century Russia is showcased in Russia Television and Radio’s Godunov, a historical drama that picks up after the death of Ivan the Terrible, which ended an ancient dynasty and left no heir to the throne.

Blackout, another of the company’s offerings, jumps forward to the Russia of the ’90s, as a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan War returns home to a devastated country that he doesn’t even recognize. Disillusioned, he rearms himself and commits a daring robbery. The story “is a response to the challenges of contemporary social and political instability, uncertainty and pessimism that overwhelm the everyday lives of people worldwide today,” says Julia Matiash, director of Sovtelexport, which represents programming from Russia Television and Radio.

Also on the slate is Two Tickets Home, the story of an orphaned girl who learns her father is alive, albeit in prison for her mother’s murder. “Every year the RTR catalog is being replenished by the best and most successful local productions,” adds Matiash.