EXPOFORUM BECOMES LARGE-SCALE FILMING SITE AGAIN
On September 12, SWAT men in masks ran around the territory of the Convention and Exhibition Complex and wrung the hands of respectable men in suits, and a police car was on duty at the parking lot for the whole day. However, those were not real SWAT teams, and the rest of the scenery was made of film props.
Ptitsa Film Company has been shooting a thrilling 16-episode detective story, “Countdown,” ordered by NTV.
The leading part is played by Yury Kolokolnikov who participated in such films as “Game of Thrones”, “Duelist,” “Transporter”, “Heritage”, “Drunk Firm”.
The series consists of three blocks, each is shot by a different director. The first part has been shot by Sergey Popov, the current shooting is conducted under the direction of Dmitry Averin.
Filming began in July and will last until November, and the show is expected to go on air in the next year.
Reception and outdoor areas of ExpoForum were used for the shooting, including the parking lot and the entrance to Hampton by Hilton St. Petersburg Hotel. “We have chosen the Convention and Exhibition Center as an alternative to the airport, where a long shooting period would be hard to arrange due to security reasons. “ExpoForum is a beautiful and convenient facility for production,” says Alexey Ivchenko Deputy Facilities Production Manager of the film. “We have been shooting in different interesting locations in the city, such as Contemporary Art Museum of Street Art, Primorsky Park, various yacht clubs, Krestovsky Island, and Count Milutin Island Fort in Kronstadt. The series concept does not involve any old city scenes. NTV has changed the series format by moving away from cop wars like “Streets of Broken Lamps” and now tries to make an interesting, brighter story for young people on the same subject.”
