The actors of "Black Silk" talked about the distinctive features of their characters

In Russia, the continuation of the Russian-Chinese detective project "Red Silk" is being prepared — the authors launched the filming of "Black Silk", the plot of which unfolds in Shanghai in the early 1930s. Izvestia visited the set on April 27 and told us the details.

According to the story, in the 1930s, many Jewish refugees from Germany arrived in Shanghai, which is called the "Asian New York", as well as a mysterious cargo codenamed "Black Silk", which is being hunted by intelligence services from several countries. The scale and quality of the scenery are excellent — at this stage, the series has reached the stage of filming episodes in the air.

"This is what the interior of an airship looked like in the late 20s and early 30s of the last century. This particular prototype has the famous "Graf Zeppelin", a legend of its time. It wasn't exactly copied, but the main points were conveyed very well," said Viktor Sineok, a correspondent for Izvestia.

One of the main characters in the film is a young Richard Sorge, played by Maxim Matveev, a Soviet intelligence officer. He noted that he wants to show the special features of his character.

"To show his analytical thinking abilities, the ability to mimic, the ability, thanks to his temperament, to charm a large number of absolutely contradictory and unsuitable people," the actor noted.

In turn, Chinese actress Zheng Hanyi spoke about the character arc of her character.

"In Red Silk she is even more trusting, in Black Silk she has become more mature, more restrained," explained Hanyi.

Detective action is characterized by traditional vivid scenes and stunts. "Black Silk" will appeal to those who did not watch the first film. The project is large, complex and international, but the mixing of cultures and languages does not interfere with filming.

"If a person is responsible about their work, then the work is done well. We have a Serbian-Japanese-Chinese-Russian-Belarusian team," explained director Andrei Volgin.

Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, and Svetlana Balanova, General Director of the National Media Group (NMG), also attended the shooting of the film.

"Wow, that's right! <...> Literally ten years ago, it was difficult to imagine such a level of work of all the workshops in Russian cinema when we work together with our Chinese colleagues," were the first words of the Minister of Culture on the set, which means that the filmmakers are doing everything right.

At the time of the inspection of the airship, rehearsals were underway inside. The head of the Ministry of Culture and the General Director of NMG were introduced to the film crew, then they showed the process in detail, turned on huge LED screens, and launched complex technical mechanisms. An admiring reaction to the country's largest stabilizer for the Gimbal camera, a platform for filming scenes on a ship. The pitching and the storm were rehearsed with stuntmen, then the actors were watered and shaken. Then the platform was rocked especially for the guests of the set.

"The storm scene was filmed exactly the same way, a huge multi-ton platform begins to rock the ship, objects on the deck also start moving, you need to keep your balance. It's better, of course, to grab onto something so as not to fall," the journalist explained.

The project was supported by the leaders of the two countries — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both films were created with the participation of NMG Film Distribution, a company that is part of NMG Holding.

"Red Silk" was the highest—grossing film in its genre in Russia, it was the highest-grossing Russian film abroad in 2025, of course, with "Black Silk" we set goals to break records," said Svetlana Balanova, CEO of NMG.

Filming takes place in the brightest locations and the best studios of the two countries. The Moscow stage of work on "Black Silk" will be completed soon, and the group will leave for China.

Projects at work: "Pinocchio" and "Black Silk" presented at the "Fandom Fest"

Thousands of fans of virtual and real universes gathered under one roof

Andrey Volgin, the director of the Red Silk film, told Izvestia on March 19 that the film crew had begun work on the sequel to the Russian-Chinese film Red Silk. The new project is called "Black Silk". It was noted that filming takes place both in Russia and in China. Complex technical solutions are used for some scenes, including large-scale decorations and special pavilions.