‘Russian Five’ Red Wings Doc To Open Freep Film Festival

With the exception of the past two seasons, the Detroit Red Wings have been pretty darn good for over a quarter of a century, but inside that time span was a very special period.A documentary film about "The Russian Five", five Russian-born hockey stars who ended up with the Red Wings in the mid-1990's, will open this year's Detroit Free-Press Film Festival on April 11th at Fillmore Detroit. The tickets go on sale Friday, though Live Nation..

(NHL via YouTube)

An article in the Free-Press details how much effort and care has gone into the production of the film. Interviews will most of the principals involved, including Slava Kozlov, Slava Fetisov, Sergei Federov and Igor Larionov. (The fifth Russian, Vladimir Konstantinov was left paralyzed after a tragic limousine accident following a celebration of the Red Wings' first Stanley Cup win of that era)

Many names familiar to fans sat for interviews including coach Scotty Bowman, Brendan Shanahan, many Red Wing teammates and The Great One, Wayne Gretzky.

The film goes into details about the cloak and dagger involved in getting the Russians, who were defecting, out of Russia, and also, details the titanic Red Wing/Colorado Avalanche rivalry of that time, the team's painful road to winning The Cup, and their place in sports history; all of which are part of a very golden era in Detroit and Red Wings history.

After the debut at the film festival, there's no word yet on distribution plans for the documentary, though it probably wouldn't be a tough sell around Michigan.

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