The Italian (2005 film)

Won: Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk Grand Prix (Best Feature Film)
Won: Glass Bear - Special Mention (Best Feature Film)

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The Italian
The Italian film poster
Directed by	Andrei Kravchuk
Produced by	Olga Agrafenina Andrei Zertsalov
Written by	Andrei Romanov
Starring	Kolya Spiridonov
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	September 22, 2005
Running time	90 min.
Language	Russian
IMDb profile

The Italian (Russian: Итальянец; tr.:Italianetz) is a 2005 film directed by Andrei Kravchuk and starring Kolya Spiridonov.

1 Plot Summary
2 Cast
3 Awards and Honours
4 External links

[edit] Plot Summary

The film opens in a Russian orphanage, where the daily routine of the boys is broken when "Madame" arrives with an Italian couple hoping to adopt a child. They are introduced to six year old Vanya, who they warm to quickly and offer to take him back to Italy. The other boys envy Vanya, but he begins to have doubts when another mother comes to reclaim her son, and is determined to find his own birth mother.

He leaves the orphanage with an older girl working there as a prostitute and the address of his previous children's home, hoping to find further details of his mother there. He ends up boarding the train alone and catches a bus to the children's home, whilst being followed by "Madame", who needs Vanya for the Italians' money, and her driver. He speaks to the head of the children's home and sets off with his mother's address. He bumps into the driver, who, after a fight in the rain, decides to let him go and meet his mother. The film ends with Vanya narrating a letter to his friend Anton, who was adopted by the Italian couple instead.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Kolya Spiridonov	Vanya Solntsev
Yuri Itskov	Headmaster
Mariya Kuznetsova	"Madame"
Denis Moiseenko	Kolyan
Nikolai Reutov	Gregori
Vladimir Shipov	Bloke
Olga Shuvalova	Irka
Sasha Sirotkin	Sery
Polina Vorobieva	Nataha
Andrei Yelizarov	Timokha
Dima Zemlyanko	Anton