The Whaler Boy

Kitoboy

61st TIFF: Greek premiere

Bering Strait, Russia’s borderline with Alaska, in a whale-hunting village, where men resort to online webcam chat. So does Leshka, a coltish 15-year-old boy, who falls in love with a girl logging in from Detroit. Finding his “sweetheart” chatting with someone else, jealousy-stricken Leshka sets out for an unthinkable odyssey. Set in the symbolical merging point between the old ways and the future, this tender coming-of-age story portrays the turbulence of youth and first love.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Philipp Yuryev

Script: Philipp Yuryev

Cinematography: Mikhail Khursevich, Yakov Mironchev

Editing: Karolina Maciejewska, Alexander Krylov, Philipp Yuryev

Sound: David Vrancken

Music: Krzysztof A Janczak

Actors: Vladimir Onokhov, Kristina Asmus, Vladimir Lyubimtsev, Nikolay Tatato

Production: Rock Films

Producers: Alexey Uchitel

Co-production: Orka, Man's Films Productions

Co-producers: Kira Saksaganskaya, Marion Hänsel, Jacek Kulczycki, Magdalena Zimecka, Radoslawa Bardes

Sets: Aleksey Uchitel

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: Russia, Poland, Belgium

Production Year: 2020

Duration: 94΄

Distribution in Greece: Strada Films

Contact: Loco Films

Awards/Distinctions: GdA Director's Award – Venice FF 2020

Philipp Yuryev

Philipp Yuryev is a director and screenwriter born in Moscow. He made his first “action” film while in school, consisting of watermelon explosions for his Chemistry exam. His first short film, The Song of the Mechanical Fish, made it to the Sundance Film Festival while also receiving awards in Montréal, Berlin, Tokyo, and São Paulo. The Whaler Boy is his debut full feature film.