Sam Klebanov
Production
Biography
Sam Klebanov is a Russian and Swedish film industry executive, film distributor, producer and TV host. In film business since 1996. In the early 2000s his company Cinema without Borders was the leading force of arthouse film distribution in Russia, in 2015 he also co-founded a Mosow-based distribution outfit Arthouse. Between 2001 and 2008, he was the author and host of the weekly show Magic of Cinema on the national TV channel Russia-K.
Known For
A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in Russia in the early 2000s. The story of the company Cinema Without Borders and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.
Plankton Salesmen
Somewhere Tonight is an urban fable that tells the story of two lonely New Yorkers trying to find companionship over an adult chat phone line. John Turturro plays Wooly, a simple, curiously odd bike messenger hoping to hear a bit of 'spicy' talk from Patti (Katherine Borowitz), an agoraphobic shut-in. Although each is not what the other hopes they will be, together they prove that wisps of enchantment can be found in even the most overlooked of hearts. And that hope takes on many unexpected shades. Inspired by slain Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh's 06.
Somewhere Tonight
A gang of crooks robbing cash collectors, run into a police surveillance team and the inadequate police response results in a gunfight. A TV crew on assignment in the area happens to capture this humiliation on camera, and this example of police incompetence is soon the lead story in every news bulletin. Public confidence in law and order now suffers irreparable harm. The head of the Moscow force welcomes a public search-and-destroy operation against these thugs, the brainchild of Katya, his PR director. She proposes that the capture of this dangerous gang be transformed into a live TV show of a kind never seen before. At this point she cannot know that the gang leader's life-and-death struggle with the police is destined to lead to a media duel. Besieged in a huge apartment block, the crooks hold hostage a father and his son and daughter. A massive special forces rescue operation is mounted but fails miserably.
Newsmakers
When he loses his position as a powerful government minister, Vincent is dropped by his pretty mistress and must begin life anew, without the privileges of power. As he gradually becomes acquainted with milieus which he d either forgotten or never known and a host of sometimes eccentric, often remarkable everyday people, Vincent really begins to start living again.
Gardens in Autumn
A drug smuggler is betrayed by his partner and is then forced to seek help from Russian mobsters.
Eastern Drift
The story of instant volunteers - ordinary people, who in the middle of the chaos, destruction and confusions after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, decided to act and help victims along the coastline.