The Winner

Igor Semyonov, a successful entrepreneur, forty-year-old owner of a holding company and director of Beta Bank, who has been working abroad for the last ten years, arrives in Moscow. After a meeting with his subordinates, instead of going to a planned corporate meeting, he suddenly decides to go to a country villa. There he catches his wife Vika with her lover. This event knocks him out of his usual routine. Having entrusted the divorce process to his deputy, he gets drunk and, without knowing why, goes to the small Moscow suburb of Prigorsk. Once he grew up here, without a father, in utter poverty. He tried to forget his past.... But unexpectedly there are a series of meetings and events that will completely change his life.

Directed by Algis Arlauskas, The Winner leans on a strong ensemble — Eduard Trukhmenev, Marina Shimanskaya, Yekaterina Vulichenko — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2009.