This autumn Russian TV will present a serial version of the famous novel Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.
      
       The film director Vladimir Bortko started shooting the serial last year. The movie was mainly shot in St.-Petersburg, as well as in Bulgaria and Crimea. Some part was shot in Moscow. It is much easier to reproduce the atmosphere of the 1930s in St.-Petersburg, than in Moscow, the film director mentions. Voland is performed by Oleg Basilashvili, Ieshua by Sergey Bezrukov, and Margarita by Anna Kovalchuk.
      
       It is interesting to note that there were not many of those who dared to cinematize this novel. The first version was shot in Poland in 1971, a year later a Yugoslavian version was shot, which saw the light only 20 years later. The most well-known screen adaptation is a serial shot by a Polish film director Machek Voityshko in 1988.
      
       Russia has not seen a single screen version of Master and Margarita till date, though many prominent film directors, including Eldar Ryazanov and Elem Klimov dreamt of it. However, the idea was not implemented. There are rumors among cinematographers that some devilry starts when they work on screening of the novel.
      
       The only one who managed to cinematize the novel was Yuri Kara. However, the film shot 10 years ago was not released. The fate of the movie is strange, just like the fates of the novel characters. First there was a conflict between the film director and the producer. Then there appeared the heir of the writer and forbade showing the film. After all, the filmstrip itself somehow disappeared – and there was even a criminal case initiated in connection with its loss.