White Snow

White Snow is a 2020 Russian biographical sports drama film directed by Nikolay Khomeriki.
The film is based on events that happened at the 1997 FIS Cross-Country World Cup. For the first time in the history of the competition, a skier Yelena Välbe played by Olga Lerman won five out of five gold medals in all events entered. The film theatrically released on March 4, 2021 by KaroRental.

Plot

Source:
The film tells about a girl named Lena Trubitsyna from Magadan, Soviet Union, who participates in the World Ski Championships.
Returning the awards to Russia, Välbe goes on a tour of Norway. There she learns more about the Norwegian monarchy, as she is interested in the history of the royal family. The king learns about Välbe in Norway and invites her to the royal palace. The conversation is about the merits of skiing. The king is a ski enthusiast and invites Välbe to coach the Norwegian ski team.
Välbe suddenly remembers the whole past through a flashback that starts from the very beginning and ends with a momentous day in Trondheim.

Cast

Olga Lerman as Yelena Välbe, a Soviet and Russian cross-country skier
* Angelina Välbe as Yelena 'Lena' Trubitsyna, 8 years old
* Polina Vataga as Yelena 'Lena' Trubitsyna, 14 years old
Fyodor Dobronravov as Viktor, grandfather
Nadezhda Markina as Militsa, grandmother
Anna Ukolova as Yelena's mother
Aleksandr Ustyugov as Maksimych, instructor
Mikhail Bespalov as Trubitsyn, a taxi driver
Darya Ekamasova as Irina Makarova
Anna Kotova as Larisa Lazutina
Vadim Andreyev as Petr
Dmitriy Podnozov as Grushin
Aleksander Gorbatov as Yuriy 'Yura'
Polina Chernyshova as Nina Gavrylyuk
Ekaterina Ageeva as Olga Danilova
Aleksandr Klyukvin as Zharov, a sports commentator
Vladimir Kapustin as Voronin
Natalya Tereshkova as Tamara Tikhonova
Lasse Lindberg as King of Norway
Johan Elm as Urmas Välbe
Stepan Rival as Franz
Artyom Eshkin as Ilya
Mariya Bystrova as Trude Dybendahl
Odd Helge Brugrand as Norwegian policeman
Production

The concept of the film is a biopic set in the winter ski mountains of Russia and Estonia. The filmmakers presented a film about records in cross-country skiing by the Russian athlete Yelena Välbe. Since February 1997, at Granåsen Ski Centre in Trondheim, Norway, at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1997, a woman won gold in all five cross-country skiing competitions.
From the production of the film company EGO Production - White Snow is a retelling of events, permission for which was given by Vyalbe herself. Today Välbe is the president of the All-Russian public organization "Russian Ski Racing Federation", head of the Russian Ski Sports Association, multiple world and Olympic champion. When White Snow was in production, Välbe provided support at all stages of filming, including script adjustments and advice to actresses who played challenging roles in real-life skiing conditions.

Filming

began in 2020, the film was shot in the ski mountains of Magadan, Moscow, Russia and Tallinn, Pärnu, Estonia.

Release

White Snow was the opening film of the 18th international festival "Window to Europe Film Festival". The event took place in December 2020 in the town of Vyborg. In total, the competition program included eleven full-length feature films. The film premiered in Russia on March 4, 2021, the Russian distributor is the film company "KaroRental".