One of the most terrifying horrors of modern civilization is when people are confronted with the suppressing threat and enforcement of state censorship. Acclaimed genre filmmaker Victor Ginzburg is contending with that feeling of defeat with his latest feature, the visually stunning, satire-fueled sci-fi horror drama, ‘Empire V,’ whose special effects enhance and elevate its timely social commentary.

The coming-of-age fantasy drama is offering Ginzburg, who served as the project’s writer, director and producer, the opportunity to experiment in the vampire genre. The project allowed the filmmaker to operate in a uniquely challenging narrative structure: telling a post-modern Moscow love story against the backdrop of satire, while retaining influence from Russian fiction writer Viktor Pelevin’s exploration of the ironies of the country’s society.

‘Empire V’ also offered Ginzburg the opportunity to design and create never before seen worlds and creatures within the horror genre. The independent film was supported and crowdfunded by Russian movie fans throughout the years of production the filmmaker put into the project. He therefore has expressed his feeling of heartbreak when he learned that the drama has been banned in Russia for its biting social commentary, which means his fans in the feature’s home country are unable to see it.

‘Empire V’ was set to be distributed by Sony on several thousand screens across Russia in 2022, which made it one of the most hotly anticipated Russian releases of the year. But after the start of the Ukrainian war, and one week prior to the movie’s release, it was pulled from theaters by the Kremlin.

The film stars popular Russian rapper Oxxymiron, whose anti-war stance has recently led to him being declared a foreign agent by the Kremlin, a designation used to attack the government’s critics and journalists. ‘Empire V’ also stars Pavel Tabakov and Taya Radchenko.

‘Empire V’ had its World Premiere on Saturday, July 29 at 9:45pm ET at Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall) in the Selection 2023 section of the Fantasia International Film Festival. The project’s screening was hosted by Ginzburg and executive producers James Steele and Yury Krestinsky.

Based on Pelevin’s satirical and incisive 2006 novel of the same name, the screen adaptation’s story is a social parody of modern Russian society being controlled by vampires. It follows a 19-year-old Moscow nobody who receives an invitation to join an elite and powerful echelon of society. however, he soon discovers the bloody secrets of a vampiric dictatorship who has controlled humanity since ancient times.

Ginzburg generously took the time a couple of days before the feature’s World Premiere to talk about scribing and helming ‘Empire V.’ The interview with the filmmaker, during which he discussed such topics as what inspired him to pen the movie’ script; how he approached directing the drama; what the process was like of creating the visual effects, as well as the make-up and costumes, for the film; and what it means to him that the screen adaptation had its World Premiere at Fantasia; can be viewed in the above video.