"A Brit in Crimea," is a name of the film that was shown tonight in Moscow. The premiere was big because the author is well-known in Moscow and all of Russia, as well as the nearby countries. The English journalist Graham Phillips who was an RT correspondent, and is now giving documentaries a try. His movie is about the most ordinary subject of the kingdom and about his vacation on the Russian peninsula. They wanted to understand what he knows about Crimea and could he adapt to the unaccustomed conditions without speaking Russian, and what else would he have to take into account since the UK government doesn't recommend such trips.
Our correspondent, Varvana Nevskaya, is among the viewers, we're speaking with her live.
- Hello Varvara, are there many people who want to see it?
- Hello Alexei, the premiere wasn't very large and was held in a small cinema in Moscow, but as Graham said himself, he didn't expect so many attendees. You also said that the UK government doesn't approve of such visits. So the goal of filming such a movie was to show the Western audience that Crimea is safe, and it's a great occasion to get acquainted with the peninsula to see that it's safe and that any tourist from anywhere in the world can go there. Let's listen to Graham Phillips' commentary about his new documentary.
Graham Phillips, journalist: "I consider this film my response against all the propaganda and lies. This is my honest view of what Crimea is really like. The film is my vacation, it really is. I saw many movies about Crimea about history, or politics. In this film, I wanted to capture the heart and soul of a person during a vacation".
A close friend of Graham Phillips is the center of the plot, a Scotsman, an ordinary person not connected with journalism, and actually this is his first time in Russia. The film wasn't shot using sponsorship money. The budget is rather modest for such a film, only $5,000, which Graham and his team got through crowdfunding, that is, ordinary people donated small amounts of money through the Internet until a budget for this picture was reached.
We can see insanely beautiful panoramas of the peninsula. The journalist and his friend visited cities of Yalta and Simferopol, and what's important spoke with the local people and found out their opinion about joining Russia, and how they live there. They also shared principles of their own life experience, talked about the traditions of the peninsula.
I suggest listening to the comments of the main protagonist of this film, Leslie.
Leslie Scott, Main Protagonist: "I thought Crimea was a fantastic place worth a visit. The idea of spending a holiday there is very unusual, for me and for anyone from the UK. This became for me a real discovery that there are so many amazing things to do, and the people are wonderful, it's a great place".
Despite the fact that the film urges to fight with stereotypes which are caused by anti-Russian propaganda in the Western media, Graham decided to present a picture in Moscow for fear that it may be disrupted in Britain by the Ukrainian activists or the people who distrust Russian government and such a film project. But those who saw this documentary today were impressed, let's hear what they have to say.
Spectators:
"Kindness, the film was made with such kindness, they are wonderful. They described all our dreams".
"It was very nice to see, and very interesting to see it from a foreigner's side, his view of the politics, and people's principles".
"It seems like something new to me, something like this wasn't done before".
In a few days this documentary will be available to absolutely everyone online. Alexey. Thank you.
Varvana Nevskaya reporting about "A Brit in Crimea"
