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The Range – a new film by Anton Lange presented on Eto Kavkaz portal

A full version of The Range feature documentary about the North Caucasus by Russia’s well-known photographer and documentalist Anton Lange is available on the Eto Kavkaz (This is Caucasus) portal

The resource also offers history of the film. The special project in the Russian is available on https://etokavkaz.ru/khrebet/ru, in English – on https://etokavkaz.ru/khrebet/en

The film’s first run was on December 13 at the Oktyabr cinema house in Moscow. The film was supported by the Russian Ministry for the North Caucasus Affairs, TASS News Agency and This is Caucasus portal.

The first run featured representatives of federal and regional authorities, public organizations and the media, including Deputy Minister for the North Caucasus Affairs Mikhail Razvozzhayev and Secretary of State, Deputy Minister for the North Caucasus Affairs Oleg Khatsayev, speaker of Ingushetia’s legislation Zyalimhan Yevloyev, Deputy Head of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee Ziyad Sabsabi, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania’s parliamentary representative at the Federation Council Alexander Totoonov and others.

At the film’s presentation, TASS’s Director General Sergei Mikhailov said the Caucasus had always been a key topic in the agency’s work, adding the film, in his opinion, “is good.” Earlier, Sergei Mikhailov had a big joint project for television with Anton Lange – it was called Russia from Train Window. “This project cannot be compared with any other, and I believe this film is a logic continuation of this topic in Lange’s biography,” TASS’s director general said. “I hope the film will meet your expectations.”

Anton Lange, in his turn, stressed the new film had emerged from his photo album, which was presented at the summer book fair in Red Square. “Now we show an unusual film, which is, in fact, the author’s view on the region, the territory, which is very contradicting, not well known to the Russian wide public,” the film’s author said. “As I began working on the project, I knew about the North Caucasus practically next to nothing, but for the ski resorts there, the Dombai. It turned out to be terra incognita, and the further eastwards you go the more you discover.”

“This is a movie, which does not contain decorations or threats, or politics, but it has true interest and curiosity of a discoverer,” Lange said, adding he had been prepared for the challenge he faced from the mountains. “Not all we saw, not all people we met are in the film. You will see only a small part; and there is still a lot left after the editing, which, possibly, we shall develop into a series of television programs.”

The film authors call The Range the most large-scale film project about the North Caucasus in modern Russia, “the film gives an opportunity to see the region from a new side, and unique views from helicopter are magnificent images of the mountains – the highest mountains in Europe; interesting stories from the locals and many more - cannot leave the audience unmoved.”

The shooting team’s route crossed seven regions of the North Caucasus Federal District: Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol, and two regions in the Southern Federal District – Adygea and Krasnodar. The expedition moved from east to west: they started in Derbent, crossed the Caucasus peaks – Elbrus and Bezengi – to finish on a narrow strip of land under a rock ledge in the Abrau Peninsula, from where the Caucasus Range begins.

The route of 3,000 kilometers crossed the North Caucasus mountainous parts and did not go down to the flatland. The team visited 100 settlements, stayed at houses high in mountains, learned the Caucasus etiquette, trying to realize what the Caucasians are like, and managed to debunk a few old myths about the region. One of them being – the North Caucasus is a “region of unrest.”