Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #54. Petrov’s Flu – Kirill Serebrennikov

Published on January 2, 2020

Petrov’s Flu

For his eighth feature, Russia’s Kirill Serebrennikov, still unable to leave Moscow despite being released from house of arrest in April of 2019, has commenced work on eighth feature Petrov’s Flu, based Alexey Salnikov’s (a contemporary writer compared to Bulgakov or Gogol) novel The Petrovs in Various Stages of the Flu (the screenplay which he wrote while under house arrest). The Russian-Swiss-German-French co-production (through France’s Logical Pictures and Charades Productions, Russia’s Hype Film, Germany’s Razor Film and Switzerland’s Bord Cadre) will star Chulpan Khamatova (Good Bye Lenin!, 2003; Under Electric Clouds, 2015) and Semyon Serzin (or Serebrennikov’s Leto, 2018). Serebrennikov’s 2004 film Ragin, based on a Chekov story, won the East of West Award at Karlovy Vary and 2008’s Yuriy’s Day picked up several awards while competing in Locarno. In 2012, his Betrayal competed in Venice, and 2016’s The Student went to Un Certain Regard in Cannes. Serebrennikov competed in Cannes with 2018’s Leto.

Gist: Petrov’s Flu follows a day in the life of a comic book artist and his family in post-Soviet Russia. While suffering from the flu, Petrov is carried by his friend Igor on a long walk, drifting in and out of fantasy and reality.

Release Date/Prediction: Serebrennikov was scheduled to film from November to December 2019, suggesting he will have a second chance at competing for the Golden Lion in 2020 or Locarno’s Golden Leopard.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.