“Patient Zero”: Exclusive footage from the set on the day of the main series premiere this spring

For serial maniacs, “Day X” premieres perhaps the most high-profile domestic project of “Patient Zero” this spring in Kinopoisk. The series about the first major HIV epidemic in the USSR, which took place in Kalmykia in 1988, before its official release, established itself as a powerful drama made according to all canons. Sergei Trofimov (Vertinsky) and Evgeny Stychkin worked on it, and the script was written by Oleg Malovichko, whom you know from Sklifosovsky, Method or Ghost.

One of the main roles in the project was played by Nikita Efremov. He played the capital’s epidemiologist Dmitry Goncharov, who went to Elista to find the “zero patients”, the first infected. Goncharov had a real prototype – Vadim Pokrovsky, head of a special research laboratory for the epidemiology and prevention of AIDS in Moscow. Talking about his character, Nikita Efremov emphasized that this is a deep and complex image, and the desire to convey the truth is based not only on his conscience, but also on his desire to get out of the shadow of his father, a famous doctor.

But for Elizabeth Shakira, the role in “Patient Zero” was her first major appearance in the frame. Contrary to expectations, Goncharov’s girlfriend, who helps sick children, played the freedom-loving Moscow student party girl Alena. According to Elizabeth, her protagonist “transcends herself, moving from an eccentric, freedom-loving predator to a woman”.

The company in which they were on the screen were Askar Ilyasov, Evgenia Mandzhieva, Evgeny Stychkin and others.

The authors tell the story of the first HIV epidemic in the USSR in seven parts. They will be out once a week. And the first is today. We set aside the evening for you to watch and advise you, but for now (privately) we are sharing stills from the shoot!

Photo: Ksenia Ugolnikova