A provincial town in the south of the USSR, 1962. Lyudmila, a devout Communist Party official and idealistic veteran of WW II, is a scourge of anything she perceives as anti-Soviet sentiment. Together with other local Party officials, she is taken by surprise by a strike at the local factory, in which her own daughter is taking part and like so many other people, she disappears without a trace. As the situation quickly spirals out of control, Lyudmila begins a desperate search for her daughter in the face of curfews, mass arrests, and the authorities’ ruthless attempts to cover up the state violence. Her once unquestioning faith in the Party line is shaken by her growing awareness of its human toll, tearing apart the world she thought she knew. The movie ‘Dear Comrades!’ is based on a true story that happened on June 1st and 2nd, 1962 in Novocherkassk and was kept secret until the nineties. The first official investigation was only initiated 30 years later, in 1992. 60 years after the Novocherkassk massacre, Major General of Justice Yuri Bagrayev acted as the consultant in the process of writing the film’s screenplay.

Andrei Konchalovsky is a leading director of Soviet cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, who went to Hollywood after the Cannes success. Konchalovsky’s film, television productions, and theater shows have garnered awards at film festivals in Venice, Cannes, San Sebastian.

Awards: Venice Film Festival 2020 – Special Jury Prize; Sputnik – Russian Film Festival 2021 – Grand Prix