The film Groza (The Storm), which was produced by PREMIER Studios (part of Gazprom-Media Holding), received the main prize of the II Russian Film Festival in Milan, Premio Felix, on September 20. The screen adaptation of the 19th-century classic play by Aleksandr Ostrovsky was produced by Valery Fyodorovich and Evgeny Nikishov (Gogol, Politseysky s Rublyovki. Novogodny Bespredel/Policeman from Rublevka. New Year's Mayhem), and directed by Grigori Konstantinopolsky. Lyubov Aksyonova, Viktoriya Tolstoganova and Ivan Makarevich played the lead roles.
The film’s action takes place in modern day Kalinov, a small city on the Volga, where the lifestyle and values of local residents have not changed since the times of Aleksandr Ostrovsky. At first glance, the young married woman Katerina Kabanova lives a happy life, aside from her mother-in-law Kabanikha constantly finding fault with her actions and her weak-willed husband Tikhon indulging his power-seeking mother. All of a sudden, Katerina falls in love with a relative of the city’s mayor, a young man called Boris, and discovers that the feeling is mutual.