The film company behind director Yuri Bykov’s highly anticipated thriller “The Summit” is launching another highly anticipated film. Filming will begin on a feature-length film based on Chingiz Aitmatov’s landmark novel “The Day Lasts Longer than a Century”. It is a profound philosophical parable about human responsibility to the past and future, historical memory, conscience, and moral choice. Filming is scheduled for 2027. The main setting will be a railway station reminiscent of Aitmatov’s Buranny flag stop (Storm Station) and abandoned settlements. The film is scheduled for release in 2028, to coincide with a significant anniversary: Chingiz Aitmatov’s 100th birthday.
The project was directed by Igor Voloshin, who directed such films as “Lord of the Wind,” “Nirvana,” “I,” as well as the fairytale blockbusters “The Wizard of the Emerald City” and “Buratino.”
The screenwriter, Oleg Malovichko, is a screenwriter who has written more than 15 films and 20 TV series, such as “Highway,” “Patient Zero,” “Attraction,” “The Dashing Ones,” “Union of Salvation,” and “Crystal.”
One of the country’s best studios, led by special effects guru Alexander Gorokhov, produces computer graphics. They created the graphics for such films as “Night Watch,” “Yolki,” “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” “The Wizard of the Emerald City,” and others.
Chingiz Aitmatov’s son, Eldar, President of the Aitmatov Foundation, sent a message to the film’s creators, which reads, in part: “And the Day Lasts Longer than a century” is one of my father’s most complex and, perhaps, most painfully written novels. It was born in 1980, a difficult time for the country and Soviet society.” Eldar Aitmatov recalls that his father worked long and hard on this work, reflecting extensively, and drawing on history, national legends, and traditions.
Let us recall that one of the novel’s main ideas is revealed in the legend of the mankurt. This is a man who has lost his memory, whose name has become a household word.
“The mankurt’s mother says, ‘You can take away land, you can take away wealth, you can take away life, but who came up with this idea? Who dares to encroach on a person’s memory?’ In the novel, memory is man’s last stand, and oblivion is a threat to civilization. I believe this novel is more relevant today than ever,” says Eldar Aitmatov. He expresses confidence that the film will become an important cultural event and a worthy contribution to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great writer Chingiz Aitmatov.
“I believe that the film will become the event of the year in world cinema,” says the writer’s son.
