8 First Dates (Russian: 8 первых свиданий, romanized8 pervykh svidaniy; Ukrainian: 8 перших побачень, romanized8 pershykh pobachen') is a 2012 Russian-Ukrainian[2][3] romantic comedy directed by David Dodson and Aleksandr Malyarevsky.[4] It stars Oksana Akinshina and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.[5]

8 First Dates
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Dodson
Aleksandr Malyarevsky
Written byMikhail Savin
Yuri Kostiuk
Dmitry Grigorenko
Yuri Mikulenko
Timofey Saenko
Volodymyr Zelensky
Boris Shefir
Sergey Shefir
Andrey Yakovlev
Produced by
  • Ekaterina Gordetskaya
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy
  • Andrey Radko
  • Sergey Shefir
  • Boris Shefir
Starring
CinematographyBruce Allan Green
Edited byDavid Dodson
Music byBryan Carr
Production
companies
Release date
  • March 8, 2012 (2012-03-08) (Russia)
Running time
83 minutes
CountriesRussia, Ukraine
LanguageRussian
Budget$2.3 million
Box office$7 456 577 [1]

Plot

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Vera and Nikita do not know each other, and the only thing they have in common is the fact that they chose the same place to celebrate their success in their personal lives. Vera is a successful TV presenter of her own talk show and is about to get married, her significant other is Konstantin, a famous tennis player. Nikita is a veterinarian high in demand, who made a marriage proposal to Ilona, a plastic surgeon. Everything is going well for them, they are happy, their friends support their choice, but everything changes one morning when Vera and Nikita wake up in the same bed. Deciding that this is a result of wild fun, they run away in different directions, hoping to forget everything as a bad dream.

But the next morning everything repeats, they wake up again in the same bed, in the same Dream House, although each of them knows for sure that they fell asleep at home. This continues for several more days. Some mysterious forces all the time bring them together, ruining their privacy, or perhaps indicating that they are made for each other.

Cast

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Awards

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In 2013, the film received the Russian National Movie Awards as the Best Russian Comedy of the Year.[7]

Controversy

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In 2020, this movie was banned by Ukraine's Cinema Agency because one of its actresses in its prequel, Yekaterina Varnava, visited Crimea during the Russian occupation to attend a comedy show in 2016. She was then blacklisted for five years.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "8 первых свиданий". Kinobusiness.
  2. ^ "Кино | "Студия Квартал-95"". 2012-05-09. Archived from the original on 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  3. ^ "Ukraine Bans Movies Starring Zelenskiy, Seagal, Depardieu Over National Security Concerns". The Moscow Times. 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  4. ^ Valentin Trayansky (October 2020). Игроки. Фигуры. Пешки. Секреты великих людей. Litres. ISBN 9785041199807.
  5. ^ "8 первых свиданий". VokrugTV.
  6. ^ "Владимир Зеленский: Животные и дети ничего не прощают". KinoPoisk.
  7. ^ "Церемония награждения "Жорж 2013"". national-movie-awards.ru. Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2019-02-10.
  8. ^ Time, Current (19 February 2020). "Ukraine Bans Zelenskiy Film Over Inclusion Of Russian Co-Star". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
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