Film about Russian czar’s affair premieres despite hostility

Alexei Uchitel, Russian film director of “Matilda,” a movie about the last Russian czar’s affair with a ballerina smileas as he speak to the media at the Mariinsky Theatre in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. “Matilda” loosely tells the story of Nicholas II’s infatuation with prima ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya angered hard-line nationalists and some Orthodox believers in Russia, who see it as blasphemy against the emperor, glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)