By Karen Shakhnazarov (co-director of "Ward No. 6," Russia's official entry for 2010 Academy Awards consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film)
(from the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival)

The idea of making a screen version of the Anton Chekhov's story "Ward No. 6," written in the late 19th century, cropped up 20 years ago. At that time, the film was to be made in collaboration with Italian producers, with Marcello Mastroianni in the role of Dr. Ragin. However, for various reasons the project was not realized. After twenty years, I reverted to the screenplay and understood that I wanted to make that film, moving the story into the present. It was important to me to move the scene to contemporary times because I believe that Chekhov's works have not, and will never, lose relevance to the life of every individual.

"Ward No. 6" is a masterpiece in which the drama of human existence is revealed by depicting seemingly trivial lives of trivial people. At some point in my life I came to realize that Chekhov is a deeply religious writer, and I see Dr. Ragin's tragedy in surrendering his once-strong faith in God when confronted with the wretchedness of everyday life of a doctor in a provincial hospital. Having grown callous and indifferent to others, he himself suffers from lack of genuine human contact.

Chekhov's understanding of the belief in Good as intrinsic in each individual and so often baffled by the twists and turns of life, his infinite compassion to human drama and his talent to render all that in a very simple, matter-of fact manner are marvelous. In "Ward No. 6" his genius reaches unrivaled heights. The themes of this story are timeless and universal.

It was a challenge to try and preserve in the screen version the spirit and message of Chekhov's story so close and meaningful to me and, as I hope, to many others.

Photo courtesy of the filmmaker