Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev (Armenian: Յաշան և Լեոնիդ Բրեժնևը) is a 2024 absurdist tragicomedy film written and directed by Edgar Baghdasaryan. Starring Mais Sarkisyan as a retired Armenian reluctant to accept the dissolution of the Soviet Union imagines conversations with former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and other communist leaders.
It was selected as the Armenian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Synopsis Yasha is an old, retired man who remembers one of the highlights of his career: participating as a delegate of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1976. However, his future seems repellent when he faces the reality where the USSR dissolved then he tries to hold on to the past. As part of his ineptitude for the new he imagines political conversations with former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and other prominent communist figures. At the same time, Yasha swears loyalty to him which creates problems for his family.
Cast
Mais Sarkisyan as Yasha Maksim Vitorgan as Leonid Brezhnev Lilit Salnazaryan as Valya Avital Lvova as Elena Ceausescu Georgy Engelgard as Fidel Castro Igor Emelin as Yuri Andropov Ruzanna Khachatryan Arsen Chachoyan Nazir Zhukov Samad Mansurov Irina Abrosimova Zita Badalyan
Release It had its world premiere on July 10, 2024, at the 21st Yerevan Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, then screened on August 17, 2024, at the Armenian Film Festival Australia, and on September 6, 2024, at the Armenian Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Accolades YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.20244th Anahit AwardsBest DirectorEdgar BaghdasaryanBest ActorMais SarkisyanBest CinematographySuren TadevosyanBest ScreenplayEdgar BaghdasaryanBest SoundTigran Kuzikyan
See also
List of submissions to the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film List of Armenian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
External links