Red Silk is a 2025 Russian-Chinese retro-mystery film directed by Andrey Volgin, the action-packed detective story is based on real historical events.^[1] The detective also stars Miloš Biković, Gleb Kalyuzhny, Zheng Hanyi, and Yelena Podkaminskaya, alongside Zhargal Badmatsyrenov, Gosha Kutsenko, Svetlana Chuikina, Yaroslav Mogilnikov, Irina Alfyorova, and Dmitry Kulichkov, with the Chinese side are represented by Huang Haonan, Yang Zihua, and Zheng Long. Principal photography began in February 2024 in the Lake Baikal area.^[2]

Red Silk premiered at the Karo 11 October in Moscow on February 18, 2025,^[3] and was theatrically released in Russia on February 20, by National Media Group Film Distribution.^[4]

The film takes place in 1927 on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Couriers of the Chinese Communist Party are carrying top secret documents across Russia that could determine the future of the Soviet Union and China relations. The couriers, having illegally crossed the Soviet-Chinese border near Blagoveshchensk, board the Trans-Siberian Express "Vladivostok-Moscow" in Belogorsk. But it is on the "best train in the country" that the main danger awaits them - here, under the guise of ordinary passengers, both Kuomintang agents and foreign intelligence officers are hiding. In addition, the train is pursued by Honghuzi - greedy cutthroats hired by someone, ready to do anything for the most valuable documents.

The envoys of the Chinese Communist Party need to get at least to Irkutsk, from where it is already possible to arrange both delivery and full-fledged protection. But while the express is passing through Transbaikalia, only Anna Vasilyevna Volkova, an employee of the Soviet foreign intelligence agent, and Fyodor Kornilov, a brave but straightforward and narrow-minded red commander, who helps her, are responsible for the safety of the Chinese comrades. They took Artyom Svetlov, a young and inexperienced employee of the Belogorsky department of the State Political Directorate, who speaks Chinese with a sin in half. And of the three couriers, only Wang Lin, a very young girl, understands a little Russian.

Nikolai Timofeevich Garin, a high-class Russian intelligence officer who was "stuck" in China after the fall of the Russian Empire and flattered himself with the hope that helping the Chekists deliver top-secret materials to their destination might give him a chance to return home to Russia. In order to identify and neutralize a common enemy, Soviet intelligence officers will have to accept the help of a former Tsarist officer.

The film is not historical, but it has a real basis: in 1928, the 6th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was unexpectedly held for the whole world took place in the Moscow region (Moscow), to participate in the congress, the delegates traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia with great risk to their lives. They were hunted by both Kuomintang agents and employees of several foreign intelligence services. But the Chinese comrades were accompanied by Comintern members, among whom was the young translator Artyom Svetlov.^[5]

• Miloš Biković as Nikolai Garin, a Tsarist officer and former secret agent
• Gleb Kalyuzhny as Artyom Svetlov, a young Red Army soldier and translator, an employee of the State Political Directorate
• Zheng Hanyi as Wang Ling, a Chinese intelligence courier and translator, an agent for the Chinese Communist Party
• Yelena Podkaminskaya as Anna Volkova, an employee of the Soviet foreign intelligence officer
• Zhargal Badmatsyrenov as Ayanov, was an agrochemist and specialist in pesticides, a train passenger
• Gosha Kutsenko as Fyodor Kornilov, a Red commander
• Svetlana Chuikina as Grom, a female train conductor
• Yaroslav Mogilnikov as Petya, a young waiter and buffet attendant in the dining car
• Irina Alfyorova as Countess Demidova, a train passenger
• Dmitry Kulichkov as Sviblov, an photographer and architect, a train passenger
• Huang Haonan as Li Bo, a Chinese underground fighter, Wang Ling's childhood friend
• Yang Zihua as Gao
• Zheng Long as Du Xin
• Yue Chunyu as a Kuomintang officer
• Qu Gang as Wang Ling's father
• Yevgeny Sidikhin as Berezin, head of the State Political Directorate
• Samvel Muzhikyan as Oganov, a representative of the Joint State Political Directorate
• Vasily Borisov as chief hunghuz
• Vadim Badmatsyrenov as a hunghuz machinist
• Konstantin Milovanov as Vasil, the guard

According to the director, Red Silk will attract the attention of a wide audience, because everyone will find something for themselves in the story. The audience will see twisted riddles, vivid battle scenes, chase episodes (there will be plenty of action and adventure on the screen), a recreation of the past era and, of course, a love story. Many viewers will also be attracted by the fact that the action takes place in a confined space, which will add a special atmosphere to the film and will fit it into the ranks of some of the most popular films of this genre, such as Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film).

For the performer of the role of Wang Lin, the Chinese Zheng Hanyi, this is her debut in cinema, the creators of the film found her after a long casting at the theater institute in St. Petersburg, where she entered four years ago, and managed to learn Russian well.

Principal photography took place on Lake Baikal in the Irkutsk region, in the Pskov and Leningrad regions, and also in Saint Petersburg.

In China, filming was carried out at Hengdian World Studios, the film is a joint Russian-Chinese film project: a co-production partnership was concluded between the Russian Nota Bene Film Group and the Chinese Fen Dou Mao Film & TV Culture Media (Beijing) Co. and Tianjin Co-Production Film & TV Co7, the Chinese side invested in the production funds in exchange for part of the rights to the film, which will allow it to be distributed in China as locally produced products, without taking into account quotas for foreign films.

Red Silk was theatrically released in the Russian Federation on February 20, 2025, by National Media Group Film Distribution.

The film was made with the support of the Cinema Fund. In January 2025, the head of the Russian Ministry of Culture Olga Lyubimova, during a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with members of the government, made a statement that the film Red Silk is one of the most anticipated films to be released in 2025.

• Red Silk at IMDb