‘Leviathan’ collects 1 million rubles in fan support after being hit by piracy

An online project to support Andrey Zvyagintsev’s film Leviathan, following its Internet leak, has collected more than 1 million rubles (about $14,000).

The project’s founder, digital producer Vyacheslav Smirnov, told Meduza his group received a single donation of 50,000 rubles ($720) in the last week of January, putting fans’ total support over the 1-million-ruble mark.

“Generally, the donations from Europe are 3-4 times higher than what we get from Russia. A third of our traffic comes from Europe and the United States. It turns out that Russians donate more often, but in smaller amounts,” Smirnov says.

In an effort to compensate for losses caused by Internet piracy, Smirnov launched a website in mid-January 2015 to collect donations for Leviathan, inviting fans to express their gratitude to the creators of the film, which leaked online a month before it premiered in theaters. The film is scheduled for release in Russia on February 5.

Leviathan’s creators estimate that 3-6 million people have already seen the film.

Alexander Rodnyansky, Leviathan’s producer, has asked Smirnov to transfer any donations received to Chulpan Khamatova’s Gift of Life charity fund, which helps children suffering from oncological and hematological diseases.

Leviathan was nominated for and won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards. It’s also nominated for an identical award at the 87th Academy Awards, which will take place on February 7.

Zvyagintsev’s film has been controversial inside Russia, where some public figures have accused the movie of being unpatriotic. In late January 2015, Zvyagintsev won the Best Direction award at the 13th Golden Eagle Awards, a Russian ceremony conceived by Nikita Mikhalkov, who called Zvyagintsev “a master,” but refused to comment on Leviathan specifically.

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