One of Russia's key filmmakers – whose name is familiar in Europe and in the West – Oscar-winner Nikita Mikhalkov has presented his long-awaited WWII epic drama, Burnt by the Sun 2.

Six thousand film buffs, industry insiders and journalists attended the premiere at the State Kremlin Palace in the heart of Moscow.

As the title suggests, the film is a sequel to the 1994 drama Burnt by the Sun, which scooped the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival as well as an Academy Award. Later this May, Mikhalkov, who also directed The Barber of Siberia and 12, will be vying for the coveted Golden Palm at Cannes once more, this time with Burnt by the Sun 2.

With a budget of $55 million, the blockbuster war drama has already set a record as the most expensive Russian film in history. It is scheduled to be released across the country on April 22, timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the victory in World War II.

It took the ambitious Russian director/actor/writer/producer, who will turn 65 this year, eight years to complete the film. The question is, why did he want to shoot a sequel in the first place?

His award-winning 1994 Burnt by the Sun was set in 1936, at the height of Stalin's repression known as the Great Terror. The film revolved around the life of a Soviet family with its charismatic leader, Colonel Kotov (played by Mikhalkov himself), his charming six year-old daughter Nadia (played by Mikhalkov's daughter Nadia), wife Marusya and cousin Dmitry, as well as their multiple relatives, neighbors and friends.

It seemed that the bitterly tragic ending of the family saga didn't presuppose any continuation of the story, but the director decided otherwise.

"Frankly speaking, my first impulse to make a sequel was after I watched Saving Private Ryan. It is not that it had sparked a professional desire to compete with Spielberg in me – it is impossible and there is no need, really – but I was hurt by the story according to which the victory in WWII belonged to the Allies. That is unfair at heart, neither in terms of the number of victims nor in the adequacy of the contribution made. All that made me think about it," Mikhalkov explained.

As a result, Mikhalkov started working on his answer to Spielberg's cinematic interpretation of WWII.

Burnt by the Sun 2 is set during the first two years of the Second World War, showing people in agony, death and despair. Mikhalkov has made it clear that his film is not about the victory, but the horrific conditions under which the deadly victory had been achieved. The director's message is crystal clear: faith and belief in God were fundamental in Russia's victory in WWII and are the vital – if not the only – means of fostering patriotism.

The film features many of the familiar characters who graduated from Mikhalkov's previous Burn by the Sun, such as the diehard Colonel Kotov (played as always by the multitalented Mikhalkov), his beloved daughter Young Pioneer Nadia (played by the director's 22-year-old daughter) as well as the evil-minded Dmitry.

The director describes Burnt by the Sun 2 as his "attempt of telling the story of WWII with an intense desire to arouse and incite the national immune system to life and joy at present rather than in the unknown future."

Working on the drama was a real challenge. Shooting took place in multiple locations across Russia and Europe, as well as at the largest and oldest film studio in Europe, Mosfilm. One of the challenges was the construction of a 130-meter-long wooden bridge, which took two months to build. The risks were high, as a thousand people had to be involved in the impressive crowd scene which was filmed on the bridge.

"When I watch the film now that it has been finally completed, I actually have no idea how we managed to complete all this work," Mikhalkov said.

Director of photography Vlad Opelyantz was quoted as saying that everyone on set was placed in extreme conditions by default. "We often used hand-held cameras to attain a "participation effect". Mikhalkov was right when he called his film a semidocumentary blockbuster."

According to stunt director Valery Derkach, authenticity is key when working with the Oscar-winning director. "If the film's plot had it that the tank runs into a trench filled with people, we were filming a real tank and real people, not stuntmen, sitting in the trench." The majority of stunts were done by the actors, and those who have watched the film will agree: they have been through a lot.

"The film is quite bitter, but it would be a crime to forget about the price we paid for defeating the enemy during WWII," Mikhalkov concluded.