August Eighth

Background

The film tells the story of a young single mother who must make her way to South Ossetia in order to reunite with her son whom she had sent away before the war. The story of the war is shown through two different point of view. One is the mother's and the other is the son's, who sees it in terms of a science fiction story about fighting robots.

In comparison to Olympus Inferno and 5 Days of War, August Eighth was not marketed as a "search for the truth" film. However, it was recognized as a socially important project, and was filmed at the expense of the Russian State Fund for Social and Economic Support of National Cinematography.

Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S., a Russian distributor of 20th Century Fox distributed the film. The Russian premiere took place on 21 February 2012. It premiered on television on 4 November 2012 on Channel One.

Plot

Kseniya, a 23-year-old pastry chef from Moscow, is trying to move on from her failed marriage and focus on her new relationship with Yegor, a young banker. Her seven-year-old son Artyom struggles with his parents’ separation, retreating into a vivid fantasy world where he imagines himself as a superhero called Kosmoboy. In his imagination, Kosmoboy fights alongside a towering robot ally named Edger Beroev against the monstrous villain Mrakovlast (“Darklord”), a symbolic reflection of Artyom’s emotional fears.

On August 5, 2008, Kseniya receives a call from her ex-husband Zaur, an Ossetian peacekeeper serving with the Russian Armed Forces in South Ossetia. Zaur asks Kseniya to send Artyom to visit his parents in Sidamonta, a quiet village near the Georgia–South Ossetia border. Zaur assures her that Artyom will be completely safe. At the same time, two Russian Spetsnaz reconnaissance soldiers Seryoza and Lyokha are observing heavy Georgian troops and armor movements near the Dariali Gorge, raising concerns about an imminent conflict.

Although hesitant, Kseniya agrees to send her son to South Ossetia so she can take a short vacation to Sochi with Yegor, who is uninterested in spending time with the boy. Kseniya makes Zaur promise that he will return Artyom to Moscow immediately if she asks.

Two days later, on August 7, 2008, Kseniya learns from the news that tensions in South Ossetia have erupted into open fighting. Panicking, she calls Zaur and demands that he have Artyom flown back home. Zaur insists their son is safe and happily staying with his grandparents. Distraught, Kseniya confronts Yegor at his bank, but he refuses to get involved in her “family drama”. Their argument becomes public and humiliating for him, ending their relationship.

Determined to rescue her son herself, Kseniya flies to Vladikavkaz, then boards a civilian bus through the Roki Tunnel into South Ossetia. Midway through the mountain pass, the bus is struck by an anti-tank missile launched by unknown attackers, tearing it in half and sending survivors scrambling for their lives. A Russian Army reconnaissance unit led by Lyokha arrives in two GAZ Tigr armored vehicles and rescues Kseniya and the remaining passengers. Lyokha escorts her to Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, where that night the Battle of Tskhinvali begins as Georgian BM-21 Grad rockets and artilleries devastate the city center. Amid chaos and shelling, Kseniya flees with local civilians under the protection of a South Ossetian militia leader, Kazbek Nikolaevich.

Production

The central plot is based on two true stories: a man dragged his ex-girlfriend from South Ossetia in August 2008; and the second on the producer's friend's son who suffered dissociation. The film was shot from March to August 2011. Most of the scenes of South Ossetia were shot in Abkhazia and North Ossetia–Alania. Most extras were Abkhazians, but the characters, who speak in Ossetian, were played or were dubbed by North Ossetian actors. The official trailer was created in Trailerhouse by Sundown Entertainment.

Film distribution

The premiere of the film took place in Moscow on 17 February 2012 at the cinema Pushkinski. The film was released across Russia on 21 February 2012. The premiere was planned for Defender of the Fatherland Day and so the film had much competition. In the first week of distribution the film was in the lead at the box office and collected more than 140,000,000 rubles (about 5,000,000 dollars) for the first weekend. In total, August Eighth netted about 10,000,000 dollars in Russian theaters, much less than the gross of Faiziyev's previous film, Turkish Gambit. The début of the film with English subtitles took place in Australia on 1 September 2012 under the title August 8th at the Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2012.

Home media

In Russia, the film was released on DVD on 22 March 2012 and on Blu-ray on 14 June 2012. Neither edition contains any subtitles. A French dub of the movie called War Zone was released on DVD and Blu-ray in France on 7 August 2013.