The Kirill & Friends Festival made its Berlin debut from September 4–13, 2026. KIRILL & FRIENDS is a theater company founded in Berlin in 2023 by the renowned theater and film director Kirill Serebrennikov.
Over the past three years, projects by KIRILL & FRIENDS have been presented in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Salzburg, and Paris, and now, for the first time, the festival has taken place in Berlin. Throughout these days, the program featured exhibitions, talks, workshops, theater performances, and movie screenings.
Sharedstory will tell you all about two of these events:
LEGENDE
“I will take revenge on the world with love.” Sergey Paradjanov
Sergey Paradjanov was born in Tbilisi, Georgia (1924) He grew up in the Soviet Union. Rejecting the state-sanctioned style of socialist realism, Paradjanov emerged as a visionary arthouse film director known for his poetic, non-linear, and visually opulent style.
Because of his artistic non-conformity, outspokenness, and defiance of state censorship, he faced intense persecution by Soviet authorities, leading to imprisonment and long periods where he was blocked from making films. Despite these immense hardships, he continued to create art and direct films until his passing in 1990, securing his legacy as one of the twentieth century's greatest and most influential filmmakers.
The play portrays his biography and the path the director traversed with his indomitable character, creating a unique cinematic style unlike anyone else's despite many hardships—a style that continues to influence many to this day.
Tchaikovsky's Wife
Written and directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, the biographical drama stars Alyona Mikhaylova and Odin Biron. The plot centers on the loveless, practical marriage between the naive young Antonina Miliukova and the renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
The film brilliantly captures the world through Antonina Miliukova’s eyes, painting a haunting portrait of a life constrained by rigid social expectations. Her internal freedom collides painfully with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s profound emotional and physical withdrawal, transforming her existence into a silent battleground of unrequited devotion and societal judgment.
Nineteenth-century Russian society left little room for women who defied conventions, and Antonina’s obsessive, consuming love made her an outsider in her own marriage. She navigated a world where her desires were systematically invalidated, yet she remained bound to the very institution that chipped away at her sanity.
Ultimately, the film offers a devastating exploration of two people trapped by the eras they inhabited, unable to reach one another across the chasm of incompatibility and societal repression.
📸 Credit "Legende":Frol-Podlesnyi
📸 Credit "Tchaikovsky's Wife":Kirill & Friends Festival
