SERGEI POLUNIN

THE WHITE CROW (2019)

Starring Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sergei Polunin, Louis Hofmann, Olivier Rabourdin, Raphaël Personnaz, Chulpan Khamatova, Zach Avery and Yves Heck. Directed by Ralph Fiennes.

A young man of just 22, dressed in a black beret and a dark narrow suit, is on an aeroplane flying from St Petersburg to Paris. It is 1961 and Rudolf Nureyev, not yet the imperious figure of legend, is a member of the world-renowned Kirov Ballet Company, travelling for the first time outside the Soviet Union. Parisian life delights Nureyev and the young dancer is eager to consume all the culture, art and music the dazzling city has to offer. But the KGB officers who watch his every move become increasingly suspicious of his behaviour and his friendship with the young Parisienne Clara Saint. When they finally confront Nureyev with a shocking demand, he is forced to make a heart-breaking decision, one that may change the course of his life forever and put his family and friends in terrible danger.

DANCER (2016)

Starring Sergei Polunin, Jade Hale-Christofi, Galyna Polunina, Vladymyr Polunin, Valentino Zucchetti, Igor Zelensky, Galina Ivanovna, David Lachapelle, Larysa Lavrikova and Valia Polunina. Directed by Steven Cantor.

What happens when you walk away from being the embodiment of your profession? Ukrainian dancer Sergei Polunin took the dance world by storm as an astonishing prodigy, gifted with both power and poise, and became the Royal Ballet’s youngest ever principle performer. But his meteoric rise hid the pressures of his family, and of a childhood that was only work, no play. Teetering under enormous expectation and gazing into the abyss of self-destruction, at 25 Polunin turned his back on stardom and ballet.