The Russian film, opera and theater director Kirill Serebrennikow has arrived in Hamburg as a surprise and has started work at the Thalia Theater.
In the summer of 2020 he was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence with a ban on leaving Russia for “embezzlement”, as the theater announced on Monday.
Serebrennikow had during his travel ban directed some productions via zoom and video across Europe. Serebrennikov was arrested and placed under house arrest in the summer of 2017. Since Monday he has been conducting rehearsals for his production of Chekhov’s story “The Black Monk” at the Thalia Theater with Russian, German, American, Armenian and Latvian artists.
According to the theater, Serebrennikov said on his arrival at Hamburg Airport on Saturday: “I am very, very happy and happy that Hamburg is the first European city in which I can work again after four and a half years! Because it is also the last city I’ve been to before. That feels very good! That’s a good sign, and definitely not a coincidence! “
The rehearsals began on November 8th in Moscow and have continued in Hamburg since January 4th. After the premiere, Serebrennikov will return to Moscow to present an international film. The plan is to zoom in on him both for the presentation of his film “Leto” (January 25th) and for a panel discussion on January 30th.