The film, which centers on Ivan the Terrible – one of Russia’s most controversial tsars, premiered at Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world.

At the festival in Honfleur, Lungin’s drama is also one of the most highly-anticipated productions on the menu, and his “Tsar” is certain to give film lovers some food for thought.

"Hipsters" by Valery Todorovsky (image from kinopoisk.ru)

Among the festival’s highlights is award-winning war drama “One War” and Aleksandr Proshkin’s drama “The Miracle” inspired by an incident which allegedly took place in 1956 in the Southern Russian city of Samara, where a young woman suddenly got frozen into immobility and remained immobile for several months while dancing with a religious icon.

Russian film lovers in Germany also have a chance to watch some of the most–talked about productions released in the country earlier this year, such as “Oxygen” from cutting-edge theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev, and “Ward #6” from veteran filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov, based on Anton Chekhov’s short story of the same name.