The Bermuda International Film Festival is to screen a dramatic film about ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev at its monthly film series, BIFFFlix.

The White Crow is the story about how a dazzling Nureyev travelled to Paris as a member of the world-renowned Kirov Ballet Company in 1961.

Outside the Soviet Union for the first time, Parisian life delights Nureyev and the young dancer is eager to consume all the culture, art and music that the City of Light has to offer.

But KGB officers who watch his every move become suspicious of his behaviour and his friendship with the young Parisienne, Clara Saint. When they confront Nureyev with a shocking demand, he must make a heartbreaking decision.

From Nureyev’s poverty-stricken childhood in the Soviet city of Ufa, to his blossoming as a student dancer in Leningrad, to his arrival at the epicentre of western culture in Paris in the early 1960s and a nail-biting stand-off at the Le Bourget airport, the film is the true story of an incredible journey.

Ralph Fiennes both directs, and acts in, the film with a screenplay by David Hare that was inspired by the book, Rudolf Nureyev: The Life, by Julie Kavanagh.

The White Crow will screen next Wednesday 6.30pm at the Speciality Cinema. Tickets, $15, are on sale now at www.ptix.bm, or at the cinema box office.

The running time is 127 minutes. The film is rated R.