IFC Midnight will release Egor Abramenko’s directorial debut Sputnik based on his short film The Passenger which played in the 2017 Fantastic Film Festival in Austin. Sputnik was set to have its world premiere in the Midnight Section at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. IFC Midnight will release the film on August 14th, 2020.

The film stars Oksana Akinshina who debuted in Lukas Moodysson’s award-winning film Lilya 4-Ever, alongside Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov, and Anton Vasilev.

In Sputnik, at the height of the Cold War, a Soviet spacecraft crash lands after a mission gone awry, leaving the commander as its only survivor. After a renowned Russian psychologist is brought in to evaluate the commander’s mental state, it becomes clear that something dangerous may have come back to Earth with him.

Director Egor Abramenko added, “I’m excited to share my film with American audiences. I was inspired by many American films when making Sputnik so it’s a very important country for me to show this film. I am so happy to be partnering with IFC Midnight who represent a great family of international filmmakers.”

Initially, the film was supposed to be released in Russia on April 16 via Sony Pictures, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic the Russian opening is scheduled for a digital release on Russian platforms April 23rd.