View source for Returning to the 'A'

{{use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Returning to the 'A'
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Egor Konchalovsky]]
| producer       = Arman Asenov
| writer         = Vladimir Moiseenko<br/>Alexander Novototsky-Vlasov
| starring       = Seydulla Moldahanov<br/>Denis Nikiforov<br/>[[Farhat Abdraimov]]<br/>[[Gosha Kutsenko]]<br/>[[Andrey Smolyakov]]
| music          = Victor Sologub
| cinematography = Anton Antonov
| editing        = Ekaterina Pivneva<br/> Alexey Miklashevskii
| distributor    = 
| released       = {{Film date|2011|||df=yes}}
| runtime        = 110 minutes
| country        = Kazakhstan<br/>Russia
| language       = Russian
| budget         = 
}}

'''''Returning to the 'A'''''' ({{lang-ru|Возвращение в «А»}}) is a 2011 Kazakhstani [[drama film]] directed by [[Egor Konchalovsky]]. The film was selected as the Kazakhstani entry for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] at the [[84th Academy Awards]],<ref name="AMPAS">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20111013.html |title=63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar |accessdate=2011-10-14|work=oscars.org}}</ref> but it did not make the final shortlist.<ref name="Oscar Shortlist">{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2012/20120118.html|title=9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar|accessdate=2012-01-19}}</ref>

==Plot==
A young, creative team of TV Russian and Kazakh cinematographers are sent on a perilous journey from [[Almaty]] to [[Afghanistan]] to film a documentary film ''In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great''.  They are accompanied by a man who once fought on the land of Afghanistan and lost a leg in the fighting - Marat Ayumov. He is fluent in [[Persian language|Farsi]], is familiar with the customs, traditions and Afghan laws.  But no one knows that he served as a part of the Muslim battalion [[Main Intelligence Directorate (Russia)|GRU]] Soviet Union under the command of legendary Afghan war  Kara Major (Arman Asenov) and that he also has personal reasons to return to Afghanistan.<ref>[http://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/491882/ Возвращение в А]</ref>

==Production==
While the film takes place on the territory of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, all the shooting took place near Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan.<ref>[http://airsoftgun.kz/index.php?/topic/5962-возвращение-в-а/ Тема на airsoftgun.kz]</ref>

The film had several working titles:  ''Afghan'',  ''Kara Major'',  ''Real Colonel''; It was eventually titled ''Returning to the 'A'''. In preparation for filming the filmmakers have reviewed a lot of documentaries about the war in Afghanistan. In one of them it talked about the closed Politburo meeting chaired by [[Leonid Brezhnev]], which was held on 12 December 1979. In addition to Brezhnev it was attended by Suslov, Ustinov, Chernenko, Andropov and others. It was then that the final decision to send troops to Afghanistan, issued in the form of a secret decree № 176/125 of the CPSU called ''The situation in  A''. Later, the document was declassified.<ref>[http://afg-hist.ucoz.ru/photo/1979_12_12/39-0-831  Страницы истории Афганистана ]</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of submissions to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film]]
* [[List of Kazakhstani submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|2090663|Returning to the 'A'}}
* [http://bayterekfilm.kz/films/vozvrashhenie-va/ Official page of the film Returning to the 'A']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Returning To The A}}
[[Category:2011 films]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani films]]
[[Category:Russian films]]
[[Category:Russian-language films]]
[[Category:2010s drama films]]
[[Category:Russian drama films]]
[[Category:Films based on actual events]]
[[Category:Russian war films]]
{{Kazakhstan-film-stub}}