Set in 1994, Vladimir is a Moldovan gangster in New York and member of the Vory v Zakonye, an elite criminal group going back to the time of the czars. When a problem emerges with Vladimir’s arms smuggling business, he travels to a Russian airbase with a suitcase full of fake cash. His attempt to dupe the local mafia fails, however, and the airbase is destroyed in a violent shootout. Though he escapes, Vladimir’s business and family are threatened in the ensuing mafia war. Later the conflict reunites him with an old friend from the Soviet prison camps, Aleksei. But something about Aleksei’s past doesn’t add up, however.
Karaganda - A Feature Film Trilogy
The events of Karaganda take place between 1982 and 1994, starting chronologically in Kishinev, Moldova and ending in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Along the way Vladimir serves four years of a ten year sentence in a prison camp located in the Karaganda region, which is now Kazakhstan.
Karaganda is also the beginning of a much larger story. Following the events in Karaganda, Vladimir continues his weapons smuggling and takes over the gas bootlegging business managed by his former associates. As his children, Anya and Marat, come of age, they also take part in their father’s business - but with tragic consequences.
In 2012 as a student at the AFI Conservatory in Hollywood, CA, director Max Weissberg directed a 17-minute excerpt of Karaganda, Part II, titled THIEF-IN-LAW. The following year, he filmed a 26-minute excerpt of Part I, also titled KARAGANDA. This film screened in 26 film festivals in 13 countries, earning 5 awards. The lead actors of both shorts were Konstantin Lavysh and Nikita Bogolyubov, who also star in the feature version.
