The series "DEAR WILLIE" received the award of the festival "Pilot-2025"

The performer of one of the main roles in the project "DEAR WILLY" Sergey Marin won the nomination "Best actor in the pilot of the series". According to the plot, Marina's character is a former KGB officer Vyacheslav Vardanov, who, in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy, will have to recruit the first person of West Germany– Chancellor Willy Brandt. The director of the series, Vladimir Shchegolkov, received the prize at the ceremony for his colleague.

The political detective story "DEAR WILLY" tells about the secret friendship of two main geopolitical rivals in Europe – Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev (played by Sergei Makovetsky) and West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (Kirill Kyaro), who saved the world from a nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War. The roles in the series were also performed by Alexey Rozin, Vladimir Konkin, Andrey Gradov, Igor Chernevich, Martin John Cook, Alexandra Bogdanova, Alexander Shtendler, Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk and others.

The series is set in the 1960s. The world is on the verge of nuclear war. Soviet intelligence becomes aware that the United States is preparing to launch a strike from military bases located in Germany. Realizing that a retaliatory ultimatum would trigger a catastrophe, Soviet Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev decides to conclude a secret agreement with German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Both politicians are at risk: if their contacts become known, one will be expelled from the party, and the other will be impeached. The best intelligence officers of the USSR should establish contact between them in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy, so that even the KGB would not find out about this operation.

– My hero is a smart, talented man of his time, a character in whom, despite his outward calmness, a real storm of passions is raging. With all this, Vardanov is not devoid of a sense of humor, he is no stranger to the spirit of adventurism," said Sergey Marin. – I was pleased to join the project, because first of all, this story is brilliantly presented in the script, it has a noticeable parallel with today. And, of course, the project team played a role – a wonderful group led by director Vladimir Shchegolkov and cinematographer Peter Dukhovsky, as well as excellent partners in the frame.

The director of the series is Vladimir Shchegolkov, the producers are Vladimir Tyulin, Anatoly Tupitsyn, Sofya Mitrofanova, Igor Prokopenko, Ilya Burets, Maxim Filatov and David Kocharov.

The project is being produced by REN TV channel, Format TV company, Studio Chekhov, KION, PREMIER and with the support of the Institute for Internet Development (ANO IRI). The series will be released in PREMIER and KION online cinemas, and the TV premiere will take place on the REN TV channel.