Seagull Films, the sales and distribution consultancy and leading distributor of Russian arthouse films in North America, is marking its tenth anniversary with a series of special events.

Founder and president Alla Verlotsky has arranged the release of Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s A Room And A Half (pictured) at New York’s Film Forum on January 20, as well as the US premiere of Russia’s foreign language Oscar submission Ward No. 6 by Karen Shakhnazarov and Aleksandr Gornovsky.

Verlotsky is also presenting Celebrating Chekhov commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Russian playwright’s birth that launched at Lincoln Centre last November and goes on national tour this year.

Seagull has curated Celebrating Chekhov in association with the National Gallery Of Art and Mosfilm Studio. The programme includes screenings of Ward No. 6, Andrei Konchalovsky’s Uncle Vanya, Nikita Mikhalkov’s An Unfinished Piece For The Player Piano, and Kira Muratova’s Chekhov’s Motives.

“There was a huge gap in North America in the distribution and presentation of Soviet and Russian cinema,” Verlotsky said.

“Due to the ramifications of the Cold War, there was a stigma attached to the classic and contemporary works from the region. This realisation is what inspired me to bring Russian film treasures, those beyond such world-renowned masters as Dovzhenko and Eisenstein, to American audience.”

Seagull Films has showcased the work of Dziga Vertov and contemporary directors such as Alexey Balabanov.

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