SF WEEKEND: RUSSIAN APOCALYPTIC SERIES VONGOZERO: THE OUTBREAK AND SF THRILLER THE BLACKOUT ARE STRANGELY PORTINENT TO OUR CURRENT SITUATION

Outbreak premièred last November in Russia

I'm quite sure that, back when they were producing it a year or so ago, the writers of Russian science fiction apocalyptic series VONGOZERO: THE OUTBREAK did not really anticipate the events that are happening around the world right now. The series, which premiered at last year's Canneseries in April and took part in the official competition, streamed on Russia's internet platform Premier last winter, is based on the bestselling book Vongozero by Yana Vagner which was translated into more than ten languages around the world. It was also turned into a feature length movie. Check out the English subed trailer below and tell us what you think.

The series consists of eight episodes

Outbreakset against the backdrop of a global catastrophe, portrays an unknown virus that quickly paralyses Moscow and turns it into a city of the dead. There is no electricity, money has lost all value and those who are still not infected, are desperately fighting for food and fuel. Sergey (Kirill Karo), accompanied by his new lover and her autistic son, as well as his ex-wife, his own son and several other companions, are trying to escape beyond the borders of the quarantine to reach a hunting lodge on a remote, uninhabited island in Karelia where they

The series and film were based on a book by Yana Vagner

can begin life anew. However, escape is only half the battle, as they must learn to live with each other. Both the global outbreak and Sergey's family dramas put their journey in jeopardy.

Somewhere around the same time, last year in November, Russian cinemas also played their sf thriller THE BLACKOUT (aka Avanpost) and it

The Blackout aired last winter in cinemas

had its UK release in December. It was one of the first such films in Russia and it took years to produce.  No meteorites hit Earth, no terrorists put the world in danger, no atomic war was started, but something did go wrong. Contact between most towns on Earth has been severed. A small ring-like area in Eastern Europe still has electricity, and signs of life are being reported from the Space. What military forces find outside the Ring is shocking. There are dead corpses everywhere: in stores, in cars, on roads, in hospitals and railway stations. Who or what is destroying all life on Earth? How long will the last outpost of mankind survive?