fiction series
May 7, 1901, a mutilated body is found on the railways near the Saint Petersburg train station. The body is identified as Oleksii Alchevskyi, a well-known entrepreneur, advisor to The Minister of Finance, one of the wealthiest people in the south of Russian Empire. A note found on his body indicates suicide. Alchevskyi’s body is taken to Kharkiv and then buried. But not outside the cemetery walls, where other suicides rest.
A rumor that Alchevskyi has been killed starts spreading across the empire. To avoid the potential scandal, the Saint Petersburg Police assigns a young detective, Vasyl Yanovskyi, to investigate the case.
To succeed, Vasyl needs to learn every little detail about Alchevskyi. Interrogating the suspects (wife, children, and competitors), he creates a psychological portrait of the dead man.
His life path resembles the story of the American dream: after a falling out with his father, young Alchevskyi goes to Kharkiv, opens a tea store, overcomes obstacles, trades successfully, founds the first Mutual Credit Society, and becomes a powerful banker. Repeated threats cannot prevent him from opening the Land Bank and founding the Donetsk-Yuriiv Metallurgical Company. Yet, the fact that he supported an illegal Ukrainophile organization comes as a complete surprise.
During the investigation, it turns out that, to avoid bankruptcy, Alchevskyi went to Saint Petersburg to the Minister of Finance Witte to receive a state order for the supply of railway tracks and permission to issue collateral trust bonds worth 7 million rubles. He was refused, and a few months into his death, all enterprises were handed over to the relatives of the Minister of Finance, the Riabushynski brothers.
Yanovskyi’s investigation points to the highest echelons of power. He realizes that he will never be able to bring charges against the murderers, because laws do not apply to people who write them, both hundreds of years ago and now.
PROJECT TEAM
TARAS DRON, scriptwriter
Member of the European Film Academy and the Ukrainian Film Academy. Graduated from the Leon Schiller National Film School (Film Direction Department).
Feature films:
2020 – The Glass House, fiction, director
2019 – Blindfold, fiction, director, screenwriter. The world premiere took place at the Warsaw Film Festival. Best Film award at the Warsaw Film Festival, Best Cinematography award at Balneário Camboriú International Film Festival
Since 2019 – Pleiada, historical TV series, director (pre-production)
2018 – DZIDZIO. First time, fiction, co-director, co-screenwriter
2016 – When Will This Wind Stop, documentary, co-director, co-producer
Short films:
2018 – Sashka, fiction, first assistant director
2017 – Stone Breads, fiction, co-director
2017 – Cage, director, screenwriter
2016 – Black Mountain, fiction, director, producer, screenwriter
2015 – Ostap, documentary, director, producer, screenwriter
2013 – Touch and see, fiction, director, producer
2012 – One, fiction, director, producer, screenwriter
NATALIIA YAKOVLEVA, producer
Graduated from Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (Director of Mass Celebrations and Spectacles). Has 17 years of experience in audio-visual field. Until 2019, she held the position of creative producer at Starlight Media and Solar Media Entertainment. In 2019, she founded Bank of Ideas Production to create documentaries and fiction.
2021 – Alchevsky’s Mystery, TV series, producer (development)
2021 – The Universal Key, fiction, producer (pre-production)
2021 – Home Life, TV program, 16 episodes, producer
2021 – Where_Decommunization, TV program, 20 episodes, producer
2020 – Ruthenia. Restoring the Nation’s Code, documentary, author of the idea, producer
2018–2019 – Pleiada, historical TV series, producer of the development stage, screenwriter, author of the idea
2019 – Kava z kardamonom, creative producer of the development stage
2019 – Call Me Lilit – web series, 8 episodes, author of the idea, creative producer, screenwriter
2017–2018 – Oriental Sweets, TV series, creative producer, head writer