THE HUMORIST
by Michael Idov
Russia/ Latvia/Czech Republic 2019, 101'
In the midst of the collapsing USSR, the favorite stand-up comedian of the regime begins challenging censorship
In 1984 Soviet Union, Boris, a Russian-Jewish stand-up comedian, is tormented not only by external oppression and censorship but also by his own insecurities. Fame, combined with lack of personal freedom, is driving him crazy. Once the leaders who dictate what he can and can’t joke about summon him to their villa, the comedian snaps. Armed with the exotic American notion of “insult humor”, he takes his revenge.
Awards
Blue Angel prize for the Best Actor (Aleksey Agranovich) - Art Film Fest 2019
Special Jury Award (Michael Idov) - Pune IFF 2020
Festivals
Transilvania IFF Cluj 2019
San Francisco Jewish FF 2019
Jüdisches Filmfestival Berlin & Brandenburg 2019
Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival 2019
MOSTRA Sao Paulo IFF 2019
Virginia FF 2019
Geneva IFF 2019
Film Festival Cottbus 2019
Cinematters Program, New York 2019
St. Louis IFF 2019
UK Jewish FF 2019
Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF 2019
Cairo IFF 2019
Russian Film Festival SPUTNIK 2019
Honfleur Russian FF 2019
Russian Film Week in the UK 2019
Kerala IFF 2019
Limmud Conference, Birmingham - Jewish Educational Conference 2019
Palm Springs IFF 2020
Pune IFF 2020
Oregon State IFF 2020
Atlanta Jewish FF 2020
Cleveland IFF 2020
Toronto Jewish FF 2020
Tallgrass IFF 2020
Atlantic Jewish FF 2020
Jewish FF, France 2021
Jüdische Filmtage in Hamburg 2021
Institute for the Jewish Audiovisual Memory 2022
Winnipeg International Jewish FF 2022
Cast & Crew
Aleksey Agranovich, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Alisa Khazanova, Pavel Ilyin, Artem Volobuev
Metrafilms, Sirena Film, Tasse Film
Michael Idov
Michael Idov was born in 1976 in Latvia, and moved to the U.S. in 1992.
He is known as scriptwriter of Kiril Sebrennikov´s LETO, selected to Cannes Official Competition 2018.
His debut novel Ground Up (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) became a bestseller, with HBO optioning it for adaptation as a TV series.
Idov’s Russian-language screenwriting debut, Soulless 2, became Russia’s highest-grossing feature of 2015, earning over $8,000,000 at the box office.
For TV, Idov created Londongrad (STS, 2015), Russia’s first series set and shot in the UK, and The Optimists (Russia-1, 2017), a historical drama about Soviet diplomats in the 1960s.
He is currently developing Advanced Persistent Threat, an original US TV series for the TNT network.
