According to the Free Press’s staff, Joshua Riehl’s film chronicling the story of the Red Wings’ Russian Five earned an award at the Free Press Film Festival–and the Free Press also reveals some distribution news regarding the Russian Five film:
Spirit of Michigan Award
This award honors the movie that best exemplifies the state of Michigan’s spirit of ingenuity and creativity — both in filmmaking quality and topic. It was chosen by a Freep Film Festival jury.
The recipient was “The Russian Five,” the festival’s opening night film that went on to sell out three screenings during the weekend. “Port Huron native and director Joshua Riehl worked for years to gain access to high-profile NHL players, acquire all the necessary archival footage and craft this truly inspirational hometown story, making it an obvious choice for this award,” said Kieliszewski.
“It is an absolute honor to be awarded the Spirit of Michigan Award by the Freep Film Festival for ‘The Russian Five’! When people think of the spirit of Michigan (and Detroit) they think of hard-working, industrious people who persevere through life’s adversities and I can’t think of a better way to describe the story of the Russian Five and our incredible team’s efforts in bringing this documentary to the big screen,” said director Riehl. “We had an absolute blast premiering the documentary at Freep Film Festival, and the fans’ outpouring of love and support is something that I will cherish for the rest of my career.”
According to the film’s producers, “The Russian Five” will continue its festival run through the summer and is exploring options for distribution, while looking into creative ways to bring the film to fans.
