Marlen Khutsiev started shooting Nevechernyaya (Unfading) in 2003 and never finished it: the director died on 19 March 2019. The film has now been completed, and the world premiere of the finished version takes place in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, 18 October, at 18:10, in the main hall of the Avrora cinema at Nevsky Prospekt 60. It is the only screening in the schedule of the Message to Man festival. Below: what the film is about, how to buy a ticket and what else is worth seeing at the festival from 16 to 24 October.
What will be shown on 18 October
Nevechernyaya is a conversation between two writers, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. Their meetings in the film are invented. The festival describes the opening like this: on 28 March 1897 Tolstoy unexpectedly visits Chekhov in hospital. More meetings and arguments follow, in different years and different cities, and each time both men are seriously ill. They talk about life and death, often disagree with each other and never lose their sense of humour (checked 12.10.2026, source: message2man.com).
The cast is Mikhail Pakhomenko and Vladislav Vetrov; Marlen Khutsiev wrote the script together with Igor Khutsiev. The film runs for just over two hours (checked 12.10.2026, source: message2man.com).
How the film was finished without its director
By the time Khutsiev died, a rough cut of about four hours had been assembled. The director considered the first part finished; the second still needed some work (source: sobaka.ru). Individual fragments were shown to the public back in the 2010s (source: t.me/sobaka_ru).
In 2025, for Khutsiev's centenary, his friends and colleagues returned to the material. In 2026 the film was completed at the mal de mer films studio. The work was led by director Ali Khamraev and film historian Naum Kleiman, and the editor was Andrei Natotsinsky, a student of Alexander Sokurov (checked 12.10.2026, sources: message2man.com, sobaka.ru). Natotsinsky and Khamraev are expected to speak at the Avrora screening (source: sobaka.ru).
Even if Khutsiev's name is unfamiliar, you have probably seen his films: Spring on Zarechnaya Street (1956), I Am Twenty (1965) and July Rain (1966).
How to get to the screening
| When | Sunday, 18 October 2026, 18:10 |
| Where | Avrora cinema, main hall, Nevsky Prospekt 60 |
| Metro | Mayakovskaya, Gostiny Dvor |
| Running time | about 2 hours 5 minutes, plus a talk by the filmmakers |
| Tickets | on the Avrora cinema website |
The festival opened ticket sales for Avrora together with Dom Kino and Rodina. The Avrora website sells the special screening of Nevechernyaya, the films of the national competition and the Double Peaks programme (checked 12.10.2026, source: the festival's Telegram channel t.me/message2man). Check the price when buying — the festival website does not list it. This is the only screening in the schedule; there is no repeat. If you are in Saint Petersburg for the weekend and want to catch the premiere, buy your ticket in advance.
Come early. The A–Ya gallery is in the Avrora courtyard. From 17 October to 22 November it hosts the exhibition The Film World of Yuri Klimenko. Klimenko is a cinematographer with more than 50 films to his name. The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 20:00, every day during the festival, and admission is free (checked 12.10.2026, source: festival schedule, message2man.com). On Sunday, 18 October it is open until 20:00, so you can see it before the 18:10 screening.
