“Pieces of a Woman” filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó is set to direct “The Revolution According to Kamo,” an epic drama about the early life of Joseph Stalin. The Hungarian filmmaker’s last feature, “Pieces of a Woman,” earned an Oscar nomination for Vanessa Kirby.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski (“Cold War,” “Ida”) and scriptwriter Ben Hopkins (“Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie”) penned the original screenplay which was adapted by Kata Weber, a frequent Mundruczó collaborator.
“The Revolution According to Kamo” revolves around the friendship between the future Bolshevik revolutionary Simon Arshaki Ter-Petrosyan, also known as Kamo, and his childhood friend Soso, who would go on to become the dictator Stalin.
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The film, which is scheduled for a 2025 shoot in the Republic of Georgia, is being produced by Mike Goodridge of Good Chaos, whose last film, “Santosh,” played in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and Ilya Stewart of Hype Studios, whose latest, “Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie,” competed for the Palme d’Or.
Other co-producers on board include MK Productions (France), Komplizen Film (Germany), Madants (Poland), Proton Cinema (Hungary) and Takes Film (Georgia). Ketie Daniela of Tbilisi-based Takes Film will act as the Georgian producer and spearhead the production on the ground with Stewart and Goodridge. Balthazar de Ganay (“Santosh”) will act as supervising line producer.
Pawlikowski and Tanya Seghatchian will also act as producers for Apocalypso Pictures. The script was originally developed with Film4.
Mundruczó is currently in the U.S. shooting“At the Sea,” a drama starring Amy Adams based off an original screenplay by Weber. He previously directed the first four episodes ofthe Apple TV+ limited series “The Crowded Room,”starring Tom Holland. His last feature,“Pieces of a Woman,”competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, and his previous six films all played in various sections at Cannes, including “White God,” which won the Un Certain Regard Prize in 2014, and “Jupiter’s Moon,” which competed for the Palme d’Or.
Spanning 30 years between 1891 and Kamo’s death in 1922, the Georgian-language “Revolution” is a portrait of the birth of the world’s most murderous dictator told through the eyes of his best friend, ally, devoted disciple and henchman. It follows the story of the two men who grew up together in the small town of Gori: Stalin, or Soso as he was then known, who was born into extreme poverty, and Kamo, who was raised in a wealthy merchant family.
After Soso leaves Gori to attend a seminary, the two are reunited in their late teens in Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi), where the charismatic Soso has become an agitator and leader in the new revolutionary movement to bring down the monarchy. As the red political agitators becomes increasingly powerful in Georgia, Kamo is dragged alongside Soso into a world of gangland violence, murder and social upheaval.
“‘The Revolution According to Kamo’ is an epic movie about history, but it also sits firmly in the gangster movie genre,”said Mundruczó. “It’s less about a man being born evil, but about the mechanics of power and how one man rises to the top. But it’s also about a passionate friendship between these two men who knew each other since they were boys.”
“I was attracted to the script not only because I had never worked on an epic story of this scale before, but also because we see one of the most brutal periods in history from the perspective of a true friend and comrade,” added Weber. “Rather than a biopic, the story presents a unique perspective in which we can see how power structures can corrupt even the purest of emotions. Kamo’s story is a tale of friendship, sacrifice and betrayal alongside the criminal history of a revolutionary movement that may be unfamiliar to many.”
Said Stewart and Goodridge: “Kornél Mundruczó is one of the world’s finest directors and we couldn’t be happier to be working with him and Kata on this ambitious and chilling story. Raised in Hungary during Soviet times, Kornél knows the legacy of Stalin all too well, and we all believe that this story of the birth of a narcissistic tyrant is one with clear parallels 100 years later.”
Mundruczó is represented by United Agents and Stuart Manishil of Novo Entertainment.
