Natural Selection, the Dating Dramady, Takes Top Spot with Six Million Views

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Category: Russia A&E, Lifestyle, Culture
Published on Tuesday, 01 December 2020 09:28
Written by Contributing Editor

Dramedy "Natural Selection", based on real unsuccessful dates, in two weeks has collected over 6 million views on the social network "Vkontakte" and has become one of the most successful Russian web series this year.

The main role in the series was played by actress Maria Korytova, known for the comedy "Halves" (special prizes of the "Kinotavr" and "In short" film festivals). Gleb Puskepalis, Vladimir Guskov, Ilya Smirnov, Rodion Tolokonnikov, Anton Loban, Igor Bychkova, Olga Mashnaya and others also played in the Natural Selection.

Natural Selection, The Russian Web Series, stars the Sons of Sergi Puskepalis, Aleksei Guskov

Link to all episodes: https://vk.com/datesandmates?w=wall-200074458_683

According to the plot, Alice, who is soon 30, is afraid to cross the same "irreversible boundary" alone and is intensely looking for her other half. She meets guys on the internet, apps, bars. But every time something goes wrong. Alice is a veterinarian and constantly compares people to animals. She tries to find someone who can understand and love her, but instead begins to understand herself better. Dating becomes a kind of therapy for her.

The script was written on the basis of several dozen interviews with girls and dating stories of subscribers of the popular blog about sex-clearance "Masha, come on!" Maria Arzamasova.

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The director of the series is Kirill Alekhin, who worked on the tragicomedies Falling an Angel (2021), Happiness (2015), documentary cycles about e-sports Heroes of Warface (2018) and Rocketjump (2019), producer of short comedies Bribe ( 2018), Rooster (2015) and a number of other short films that have received international awards.

"We did not expect such a success. They released one episode every evening at exactly 20:00. The audience went on dates with Alice. We were worried about her. They wrote: "Alice is me." Then we started to get acquainted in the comments. The priest streamed episodes on YouTube and, using Alice's example, explained to the flock how a modern girl should live. And someone launched a flash mob on Tinder: links to the series appeared in profiles (I don't know how it helps with dating, but if it helped - why not?)," said Kirill Alekhin .

The Natural Selection project consists of eight episodes of eight minutes each. The first episode premiered on November 8.

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The series has been in development since 2017. In 2019 "Natural Selection" won the All-Russian pitching of debutants. Filming took place in Moscow in October 2020. In the new pandemic conditions, the entire filming process was diversified. The project has an international team. Screenwriter Keren Klimovski worked in Malmo (Sweden), composer Eduard Konovalov - in Paris (France). Preparation and coordination were carried out through Zoom and seventeen chats in Telegram, and many of the participants got to know each other on the set.

The series was created with the support of the Institute for Internet Development (national project "Culture"). Informational partners of the project are VKontakte and the cinema portal "Kino-Teatr.ru".

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Information about the web series "Natural Selection"

Production year: 2020

Genre: dramedy

Director: Kirill Alekhin

Screenplay: Kirill Alekhine, Keren Klimovski

Cast: Maria Korytova, Gleb Puskepalis, Vladimir Guskov, Ilya Smirnov, Rodion Tolokonnikov, Anton Loban, Igor Bychkov, Olga Mashnaya, Daria Girnik, Denis Meleshko, Vladimir Dubinin, Mikhail Guray, Dmitry Alexandrov, Anton Kapanin, Yuri Tsokurov, Maria Golitsyna , Denis Belosorochka, Nikolay Glebov, Anna Aprelskaya, Sergei Aprelsky.

Producer: Kirill Alekhin (showrunner), Pavel Roytberg, Elena Kosenko.

Operator: Oleg Horoshavin

Composer: Eduard Konovalov

Set Designer: Elizaveta Amelina
Make-up artist: Tatiana Tikhonova

Premiere (RF): November 9, 2020

Duration: 8 minutes x 8 episodes
Studios: Life Is Short , FakePublish

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