A film based on Anton Chekhov's renowned play ‘The Cherry Orchard’ is one of two Russian productions vying for the Golden Saint George award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

’The Cherry Orchard’ sounds like a heavy drama, but Anton Chekhov considered it a comedy. In the play, three generations of the Russian aristocracy are brought up in a house with a cherry orchard, but after plunging into debt, they’re forced to sell their family estate and the blossoming cherry trees have to be cut down.

In Sergey Ovcharov's film, humour wins over in what has been dubbed a “poem of life and death”. The director says it’s never too late to turn to Chekhov's plays.

“It's necessary to turn to Chekhov to free ourselves of modern day evils such as obsession with money, impudence and imprudence as well as a lack of intelligence and charisma.”

Actor Igor Yasulovich agrees that Chekhov's plays never go out of fashion.

“The things we're witnessing now are equivalent to what Chekhov described in ‘The Cherry Orchard’. Our country has gone through enormous change. And, metaphorically speaking, this is exactly the same as cutting down cherry orchards and planting new trees instead!”