Fantastic Fest 2009

"You need the dead to fight the dead."

It is 1942 and the war has stalled along the Eastern Front. Desperate to advance Hitler's forces turn to the Ahnenerbe, the secret occult division of the SS, to raise the spirits of their dead ancestors to fight on their behalf. Should they succeed it will be an all out slaughter, for how can the Russian army possibly stand against the forces of the undead?

Fortunately the Russians are not without occult resources of their own, their 6th Division conducting their own experiments with the afterlife, their one great hope the gifted teenage psychic Nadya, who they must send into the underworld to recruit the spirits of her dead companions – the departed souls of the First Squad – to stand against the Nazi threat.

Loosely based on characters from a hugely popular series of Soviet-era propaganda comics, First Squad is a totally unique fusion of history and fiction. The battle sequences and secret societies are factual – both the Ahnenerbe and the Russian 6th Division are known to have existed and been active in this period – with a layer of pure speculation and fantasy added to the mix. Using moc-documentary inserts to heighten the experience the goal is not just to entertain but to create a believable alternate history of the Russian-German campaigns of World War Two.

The first ever Russian produced anime feature, the Russian creators of First Squad have worked closely with hugely acclaimed Japanese animation house Studio 4C (The Animatrix, Genius Party, Tekkon Kinkreet), to create something truly unique. (Todd Brown)