Six-year-old Vanya, a pupil of the orphanage, is going to be adopted by an Italian family - hence his nickname “Italian”. Ahead lies a cloudless life under the Mediterranean sun, but the boy wants to find his birth mother at all costs.
Audience Award "Golden Taiga" (the main prize of the Russian competition) and prizes for actors Nikolai Spiridonov ("Crystal Leonov") and Maria Spiridonova (special jury prize) in 2006.
The film was nominated by Russia for the Oscars. The film participated in the Berlin International Film Festival, festivals in Taipei (Taiwan), Chicago and Telluride (USA), Toronto and Sudbury (Canada), Morelia (Mexico) and others - the leading actor Nikolai Spiridonov received several awards. In addition to Russia, the film was released in limited release in many European countries.
Born in 1962 in Leningrad, graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Film and Television, began as an author of short films and documentaries, and participated in the creation of TV series (“Streets of Broken Lanterns”, “National Security Agent”). Having made his debut with The Italian, he directed the films Admiral and Viking, which were among the highest-grossing Russian films of the 2000-2010s.
