Adelina Gizatullina

On October 7, a premiere screening of the film Wild League, directed by Andrey Bogatyrev and Art Camacho, took place at the Oktyabr Cinema. The film was produced by the Soyuz Marins Group film company and the Novoe Vremya production center

The film is based on real events and tells the story of the birth of football in Russia.

Wild League was an association of football teams made up of ordinary people, officially registered in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. This very event formed the basis of the film.

The leading roles were played by well-known theatre and film actors Vladimir Yaglych, Dmitry Nazarov, Ivan Okhlobystin, Olesya Sudzilovskaya, Adrian Paul, William Shockley, and others. Viewers were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of athletes and heroes of the Russian national team: Artem Dzyuba, Roman Zobnin, and Alexey Miranchuk. A true highlight and discovery of the film was the young actress Adelina Golubenko-Gizatullina, who played one of the main female roles.

“Filming Wild League was special for me,” Adelina Golubenko-Gizatullina said before the screening. “The producers and directors gave us a certain freedom — almost all the actors’ wishes and suggestions were taken into account. Everyone brought a part of themselves. It was a genuine creative process, which is quite rare.”

On that day, a ceremonial awards presentation for the winners of the Wild League Cup tournament took place on the red carpet. The tournament was organized on the eve of the premiere by the film company Soyuz Marins Group together with the Amateur Football League.

The young champions from the team Vyatich-2011 were awarded the Wild League Cup, as well as footballs signed by players of the Russian national team: Igor Akinfeev, Alexey and Anton Miranchuk, Mario Fernandes, Fyodor Smolov, Marinato Guilherme, Georgy Dzhikiya, and Zelimkhan Bakaev. There was also a sweet surprise from the production center Novoe Vremya and Baskin Robbins: the athletes shared a cake decorated with the film’s symbols.

“We really wanted to become winners, so we fought for every ball. Thank you to the whole team, our coach, and our parents for their support. We are happy,”
said team captain Pavel Trubitsyn on behalf of Vyatich-2011.

For Soyuz Marins Group, participation in the creation of the film Wild League is another contribution to the development of sports, and football in particular.

“Football is a game that shapes a person, their fighting spirit, teaches teamwork, giving everything to the end, fighting and never giving up. These principles are close to our company,”
said Galina Otdelkina, Chairwoman of the Board of the film company Soyuz Marins Group, in her interview.
“These qualities are also inherent in the young players we honored today on the red carpet. The Wild League Cup tournament was important to us. The film itself is important to us as well. The founder of our company, Alexander Gennadyevich Kulikov, used to say that football is the most important game in a person’s life and the most important sport. It teaches you to make quick and correct decisions and teaches you how to win.”

The players of Vyatich-2011 not only demonstrated their skills on the pitch and received their coveted prizes, but were also among the first to see the long-awaited premiere.

Before the screening, the creative team behind Wild League took the stage. Guests of the premiere learned how the filming process unfolded and who contributed to bringing the film to the big screen. Video messages were sent by Hollywood actors who took part in the making of the sports action drama. Words of gratitude were also addressed to Ilya Krivitsky, CEO of Red Square, for his help in promoting the film, and to the CineLab film studio. Special thanks were expressed to Russian journalist Alexander Lyubimov for his motivation and to President of Russia Vladimir Putin for his contribution to the development of football.

Let us recall that the film is released nationwide symbolically on the Birthday of Russian Football — October 24