Culture and leisure

French director Luc Besson in an interview with RBC-Style explained the interest of Hollywood film studios in Russian history and related films.

In St. Petersburg, blind musician Danila Bolshakov played the burning piano, 78.ru writes.

In the Serbian ethnic settlement Drvengrad, the Kustendorf Classic Festival of Classical Music started, organized by Emir Kusturica. The forum opened with the performance of viola player Yuri Bashmet.

Mattel has released a series of Barbie toys in honor of Samantha Cristoforetti - the only female astronaut who is a member of the European Space Agency. Reports the AdAge edition about it.

Rambler Group Alexandra Mamuta has become an investor and co-producer of the Bender film series, which will be removed based on the novel The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeny Petrov. The main role in the series will play Sergey Bezrukov.