U are the World film to premiere on February 2

The film, whose shooting began a year before the start of the Games, will introduce TV viewers to athletes from around the world and the organisers, whose work was key to the Universiade's success. This and many other details were revealed today, January 30, at a press conference in the Tatar-inform Information Agency by Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, Azat Kadyrov.

"The idea of ​​making a film appeared in the spring of 2012. When discussing ongoing matters, we, together with the current CEO of Rubin FC Vladimir Leonov, came up with an idea that it would be great to film a documentary about everything that is happening in the city - to show how it is changing, growing, evolving, how the streets and citizens are transforming in the preparation for the Games," said Azat Kadyrov.

The documentary about the 2013 Summer Universiade was produced by the IVAN Production Centre, which has extensive experience of shooting documentaries and feature films for the Russian television. The portfolio of the production centre includes the following feature, television and documentary films: Life: The Missing Manual, The USSR: Collapse, The Context or The Art of Being Happy, Power of Crowd, Alexander Belyaev, Great Mystery of Water, Edvard Radzinsky's Mysteries of History series (Grigory Rasputin, False Dmitry. False Royalty in Rus), Mysteries of Stalin and many others. 

In collaboration with the national federations and largest national student teams planning to participate in the World University Summer Games, the production centre selected the most interesting characters for the film - promising athletes in various sports, which, according to their coaches, stood a high chance to win medals at the Universiade. Throughout the year, the shooting took place in various countries - the U.S., China, Jamaica, Poland and, of course, Russia. Viewers will see exclusive footage of athletes preparing for the Games. Among them are the famous Russian champions Ilia Zakharov (diving) and Svetlana Romashina (synchronized swimming), as well as young aspiring athletes for whom the Universiade is the first serious start in their careers.

The film tells the story of the U.S. athletes - basketball players Bria Hartley and members of the national tennis team who are going to fight for top podium spots at the Universiade, and for this they strain every sinew in the gym. Gymnast Deng Senyue from Beijing has already participated in Universiades, this time she is going to Kazan, to compete on the same carpet against Russian gymnasts, who are, as she admitted, the best role model for her.

Jamaican athletes Pter and Nicholas also share their recipe for success. In ordinary life, they are a team, they say: "... but when we compete, we leave friendship outside of sport."

Many-time champions will reveal their new sides. In everyday life, they are students who spend their leisure time with their family and friends.

The film shows athletes from the point they are gearing up for the Universiade, are anxiously looking forward to going to Russia and are following certain stereotypes about Russia to the point when they win medals at the Kazan Universiade, meet with residents of the city and fall in love with Kazan. This footage and such perception of Kazan by foreigners is surely to come as a surprise to the residents Kazan who will watch the premiere today, since everything they see around themselves in the city has become a common thing. They got used to live surrounded by a unique historical architecture and got accustomed to the beauty which foreigners see as a fairy-tale come true.

In addition to athletes' stories, there is another plot line in the film - the timeline of the preparations for the Kazan Universiade. This process is commented by the main creators of the Games - the Chairman of the Organising Committee, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. But we must not forget that the Universiade was made possible thanks to the work of thousands of people, so the film also features builders, drivers, student volunteers - those whose contribution to each specific area in the build-up to the Games is difficult can hardly be overestimated.

TV viewers will be able to see some kind of a historical retrospective review of how two magnificent sports facilities - the Aquatics Palace and the Kazan Arena Stadium - are being erected from scratch." The film crew used the time-lapse recording technology - the construction progress was recorded on a daily basis, which allowed to monitor the whole process of construction.

It should be noted that the film was shot with the use of the most advanced technologies, including Full HD; there are several versions of it - 115 minutes, 68 minutes, and the TV version of 52 minutes, which will be aired on Sunday. Immediately after the premiere of the film, it will be available online. In May, at the final report on the 2013 Summer Universiade at the FISU EC Meeting, the film will be presented with English subtitles. Music score for the film was composed by Sergey Dudakov, the script was written by Tatiana Salomadina, director of the film is Alexander Smirnov.

During the press conference, Azat Kadyrov also talked about the projects the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate is currently involved in. "Thanks to the Kazan Universiade, there happened many positive changes. And now, with the participation of Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, we were able to keep the Executive Directorate running to further apply the experience gained with this team. Having staged the Universiade to such a high stanadard, we have no right to lower the bar. At the moment we are working on other projects - other major international competitions: the World Fencing Championships, the European Badminton Championships and the FINA World Championships," said Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate.