Ballad of Bering and his friends

The film tells about the heroic expeditions of Vitus Bering , organized and conducted on the eastern extremities of the Russian Empire ( First and Second Kamchatka expeditions). The action takes place in the era of consolidation of the positions of the young Russian fleet - from 1725 , when, under Peter I 's decree, a naval campaign was initiated to study the eastern borders of Russia, and Bering set off on a dangerous path to find out if there is a strait between Chukotka and Alaska . The main events take place already during the reign of Anna Ioannovna , and the story ends under the rule of Elizabeth .

This is the story of the discovery of the Bering Strait , the historical reconstruction of the orders and customs that existed in imperial Russia during the period described — from the time Peter the Great died until 1745 .

• Karlis Cebris - Vitus Bering
• Igor Ledogorov - Dmitry Ovtsyn
• Yuri Nazarov - Alexey Chirikov
• Valentin Nikulin - Georg Steller , a nerd
• Gennady Frolov - Starodubtsev
• Leonid Kuravlev - Tishin
• Viya Artmane - Anna Bering
• Roman Tkachuk - Peter I
• Dzidra Ritenberg - Catherine I
• Nonna Mordyukova - Empress Anna Ivanovna
• Gennady Sergeev - Biron
• Oleg Basilashvili - Prince Ivan Alekseevich Dolgorukov
• Valentina Egorenkova - Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova
• Pavel Vinnik - Major Petrov, Mayor
• Mark Pertsovsky - Professor Delille de la Croere
• Vladimir Ehrenberg - General-in-Chief Alexander Bruce
• Roman Gromadsky - Feofan Prokopovich
• Georgy Milyar - Prince-jester Ivan Alexandrovich Balakirev
• Viktor Shklovsky - opening remarks
• Dmitry Zhuravlev - reads the text behind the scenes
• Nikolay Kryukov - General-Admiral Apraksin
• Larisa Vikkel - episode
• Victor Kolpakov - priest
• Evgeny Krasavtsev - episode
• Valentina Panina - Empress Elizabeth
• Ermengeld Konovalov - Abram Petrovich Hannibal

• Screenwriter: Victor Shklovsky
• Director: Yuri Shvyrjov
• Operator: Konstantin Arutyunov
• Artist: Alexander Dikhtyar
• Composer: Bogdan Trotsyuk