Evgeny Stychkine Played the Lead Role of a Hospice Doctor at 51 in His Own Series 0 9

The shooting of a new dramatic series under the working title "Hospice" from Okko and the Production Company "Sreda" has been completed. The series tells a story about love, death, and the possibility of accepting both. The director of the project and the performer of the lead role is Evgeny Stychkine.

"The idea of this series, the essence of the story, can be very succinctly and accurately captured in a quote: 'It’s not about death, it’s about love.' To help people spend their last weeks and months of life, one needs not a strong character, determination, or courage, but boundless, incredible love," says general producer Gavriil Gordeev.

Viktor Shchurm (Evgeny Stychkine) is a world-class cardiac surgeon. He is brilliant, charismatic, beloved by patients, and respected by colleagues. His effectiveness is shrouded in legends: his patients do not die. But everything collapses in an instant — not on the operating table, but in his personal life. His daughter, 14-year-old Victoria (Maria Abramova), loses trust in him when she sees her father refuse to operate on a hopeless patient. Shchurm finds himself not as a god, but as a human. And for the first time — he loses.

In an attempt to regain his daughter's love, Shchurm loses control, disrupts an operation, and finds himself out of the profession. During this time, he learns that his first wife and former classmate is dying. In an effort to help, he arrives at the hospice and encounters doctor Maria Pichugina, nicknamed Pichka (Marina Vasilieva). For Shchurm, the hospice is a place of defeat; for Pichka, it is home. He does not understand how one can "let go" without fighting. But Pichka knows — sometimes the strongest decision is not to fight. Shchurm must journey from doctor to orderly, from cynic to human, from fleeing death — to accepting it.

"For many years, I have been friends and worked with the 'Vera' foundation. And all these years, I wanted to come up with and shoot a film about hospice. Palliative care in Russia is rapidly developing, and it is important for society not to lag behind — for people to know that there are special places where help is provided to those who cannot be cured, that turning there is the right thing to do. That it will not be painful, scary, or shameful. And I did not know how to tell this story without scaring anyone away, but also without being too coy about the topic. Then Ivan Samokhvalov sent me a wonderful text by Marina Stepnova, which I believe is the most precise tool to tell about palliative care. I wanted it to be a bright film about life, about how touching and awkward we can be, about how precious every moment is, about how there is nothing more beautiful than love! Hospice is always about this!" says Evgeny Stychkine.

The project’s cinematographer is Natalia Makarova, and the series was produced by Ivan Samokhvalov, Alexander Tsekalo, Sergey Shishkin, and Gavriil Gordeev. The drama's script was written by the laureate of the Big Book Award, finalist of the Russian Booker, Yasnaya Polyana, and National Bestseller, prose writer and screenwriter Marina Stepnova in collaboration with screenwriter and journalist Vyacheslav Rovner.

"My co-author and brother, Vyacheslav Rovner, and I conceived and wrote this story because we lost a loved one. His wife, a doctor, a wonderful, bright, extraordinary person, died of cancer. I had been friends with her since I was 15 and loved her very much. She left with astonishing courage, as only doctors can. And we were there until the end. We wrote this story to ease our pain. And the pain of everyone who has lost a loved one. Pain and loss are inevitable companions of death. But it is in the hospice that they teach that even dying people are still people, and every minute of their life is precious; every wish can and should be fulfilled. And, of course, one must find the strength within oneself and be there with a loved one until the end, cherishing every minute while you are still together. You only understand this when you have walked this path yourself. Hospice is about light and love. It is about life. About how short and beautiful it is," admits screenwriter Marina Stepnova.

The series also features Anastasia Gracheva, Olga Sutulova, Vladimir Mishukov, Kirill Kaganovich, Irina Pautova, Maria Karpova, Vyacheslav Kharitonov, Polina Malikova, Evgenia Dmitrieva, Grigory Vernik, and others.

"As Vysotsky sang in 'Ballad of Leaving for Paradise,' we all want to fall asleep, not die. I think that is the essence of our story. The way it ends gives the viewer hope, joy, and a very bright feeling," admits Marina Vasilieva.