A fringe filmmaker’s antisemitic ‘family film’ blends kitsch, nationalism, and Russia’s favorite conspiracy theories

Maria Efremova is your average filmmaker, journalist, actress, conspiracy theorist, and anti-gay crusader. Efremova hails from Norilsk, but her greatest feats exist online. Her latest work behind and in front of the camera is the movie Good Neighbors, which premiered on the YouTube channel Star Media on November 7. Promotional materials describe the film as fun for the whole family — “a tale of friendship, helping others, and love.” Good Neighbors is also, somewhat convolutedly, about the search for a kidnapped 10-year-old boy and his mother’s book publisher. In the film, the abductions are the work of diabolical Leninists who react poorly to new research that “exposes the cult of Ilyich.” Star Media has since deleted the movie from its social media channels, but clips still circulate online, drawing attention for the atrocious acting and unhinged script.

In one especially cringe-worthy scene, “would-be bikers Dima and Olya” (the latter played by Efremova) sit together and reminisce about the greatness of the Russian people. Dima recalls something he read from “an English geologist and traveler” who once praised Russians’ ingrained capacity for “compassionate” colonialism. Olya comments on the “accuracy” of this description and then marvels that such perceptiveness was possible from an Englishman, “a representative of the most deceitful nation on Earth.” (Murchison was actually Scottish.)

Efremova’s character explains that “there are Russians by blood” and “there are Russians in spirit — those who have embraced our customs, culture, and moral values.” Dima agrees, adding that the latter group is called “Russified.” Laughing, he points out that no one but Russians has this infectious, universal appeal — not the British, the French, the Armenians, and especially not the Jews.

In another scene, a character named Vera warns her son that Lenin’s Mausoleum functions as a “teraphim,” which she describes as an accursed object made from the dried heads of infants allegedly killed by Jews during secret religious ceremonies. (Contemporary scholars generally interpret the teraphim as some form of household religious idol, though their exact nature and function remain debated.) “The Mausoleum is nothing but an example of psychotronic weaponry. The ‘Mausoleum Project’ of the Judeo-Bolsheviks is the creation of a machine to suppress the will of the Russian people,” Vera explains. Later in the film, someone calls Lenin a “lispy Judas” and accuses him of “destroying the Russian Empire,” “ruining the country,” “carrying out a genocide of Russians,” and “selling Crimea to Jewish tycoons.” Throughout Good Neighbors, characters awkwardly recite passages from real-world articles, at least four of which Efremova wrote herself. After all, who else could have penned something so eloquent as “Project Crimean California: How Lenin Sold Crimea to the Americans”?

After Good Neighbors disappeared from Star Media’s platforms, Efremova published an article titled Why Were the Jews Frightened by the Russian Film ‘Good Neighbors’? She called her critics “sons of Israel,” who, she claimed, “cowered in fear” after the film’s release. These people, she speculated, are acting on someone’s instructions to “sink the film.” Efremova also denied that the various bigotries present in the movie violate Russia’s criminal statutes against hate speech, insisting that federal officials have seen and enjoyed her work.

Before Efremova moved to Moscow and became fully invested in her films, she organized beauty pageants in Novosibirsk. She also founded and edited the magazine Pir, where she often appeared on the cover, promoting various side projects (though none as bold as selling an entire peninsula to Washington). On YouTube, she hosted a talk show devoted to “morality and moral values,” where she also explored anti-American, anti-gay conspiracy theories. Efremova’s online audience is small, though she has managed to accrue more than 61,000 Yandex Zen subscribers by peddling behind-the-scenes videos, trailers for her films, the films themselves, and articles promoting antisemitic and nationalist ideas. 

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Who’s paying for antisemitic ‘family films’?

Maria Efremova’s films are not the stuff of theatrical releases, but they are available for free on Russian online platforms, including Okko and Ivi. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Efremova has also brought her high art directly to viewers, showing at least three of her movies to soldiers in uniform. She claims that her productions receive no government funding and pay for themselves through product placement. “I burst into the film world without money or connections,” Efremova says, sharply denying that a husband or partner is bankrolling her critically panned movies.

Star Media — the film company whose YouTube channel published Efremova’s work — was an originally Russian-Ukrainian venture that produced films and television projects for audiences in both countries. It was founded by Vadym Ryashin, a native of Zaporizhzhia and former chairman of the board at Inter, who worked with both Russian and Ukrainian film and television producers.

By 2022, the company’s library numbered around 500 films and TV series. According to Ukrainian journalists, Ryashin lived and worked in Moscow right up until Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine. In Russia, the company continues to work closely with the National Media Group, the country’s largest private media holding. Its board of directors is chaired by Alina Kabaeva, widely believed to be the mother of three of Vladimir Putin’s children. Several months before the invasion, Ryashin exited the company’s Russian and Ukrainian businesses and reportedly moved with his family to Cyprus. From there, through intermediary firms, he manages the locally registered distribution company Primefilms LLC, which owns the Star Media YouTube channel.

Ukrainian journalists found another 150 YouTube channels owned by Primefilms LLC, including some that broadcast Star Media’s Russian films and television series for Ukrainian audiences. Star Media’s former Ukrainian office, Ukrainian Producer Hub, denies any ties to either Primefilms LLC or Ryashin. Spokespeople told reporters that Primefilms LLC may have merely acquired the rights to content from Star Media’s old library.