Created on the basis of ancient Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar folklore. This is the Ukrainian version of Romeo and Juliet. A fugitive Cossack falls in love with a stunningly beautiful Tatar woman who saves him from imminent death.
Director Sanin wrote about the combination of three stories in the film: two epic Crimean Tatar and one invented by him — how a Tatar woman finds the youngest dying Cossack in the steppe. Brings him home, treats; falls in love with him, becomes his wife.[1]
Cast
Viktoria Spesivtseva as Tatar Woman
Andrij Bilous as Mamay
Nazl Sejtablaeva as Little Tatar Girl
Sergey Romanyuk as Eldest Brother
Oles Sanin as Middle Brother
Akhtem Seitablaev as Tatar Warrior
Eldar Akimov as Tatar Warrior
Emil Rasilov as Tatar Warrior
Production costs
The film's budget amounted to 280 thousand dollars (₴10,298,738).[2]
Production
The shooting lasted only 24 days.[2] On the eve of the premiere, an agreement was signed with Golden Gate Film to distribute the film in Western film markets. This was the first such case for Ukrainian cinema.[3] Many years later, Sanin stated that Mamai was an "experiment," his thesis, which was supposed to be seen by a very narrow circle of viewers.[4]
