Nikolai Lebedev

Born in 1966, Nikolai Lebedev graduated from the journalism department of Moscow State University in 1991 and from the scriptwriters' and film critics' department of VGIK in 1993. He has worked in television in Moldavia as the author and director of numerous TV programs. With Vladimir Grammatikov he ran the Russo-American project Sesame Street on Russian TV. He also co-authored several criminal detective novels and wrote scripts for several films: Ego (with N. Chepik), Dancing Queensand The Admirer (1999, with O. Nagdaseva).

Nikolai Levedev's debut in directing was the short film Lodging for the Night. Friday (1991). Snake Source is his debut in full-length feature film.

Snake Source [Zmeinyi istochnik] (1997)

Psychological thriller.

A small Russian provincial town is terrorized by fear. A series of murders of young girls is blamed on a college graduate and beginning teacher-a newcomer to the town. The film, quoting Alfred Hitchcock's Birds, combines an intriguing plot with an exploration of the dark nature of power in its Russian version.

Credits

• 90 min. Russia. Color.
• Production: Gorky Film Studio with the participation of Goskino of the Russian Federation.
• Director: Nikolai Lebedev
• Script: Nikolai Lebedev and Iuliia Semenova
• Camera: Sergei Astakhov
• Music: Mikhail Smirnov
• Producers: Sergei Livnev and Valerii Todorovskii
• Cast: Ekaterina Guseva, Ol'ga Ostroumova, Evgenii Mironov, Sergei Makhovikov, Lev Borisov

Bibliography

• Mantsov, Igor'. "Imitation of Genre." Iskusstvo kino 6(1998): 77-82.
• Sirivlia, N. "Midlife Crisis." Iskusstvo kino 7(1998): 5-17.
• Snake Source. Press Release. Gorky Film Studio.