The sequel to Russian hit comedy Six Degrees Of Celebration has begun shooting with directors including Oksana Bychkova and Alexander Kott.

Six Degrees of Celebration 2012 (Yolki 2012), the sequel to director-producer Timur Bekmambetov’s New Year comedy Six Degrees Of Celebration, will feature scenes shot in New York and Israel in addition to locations throughout Russia including Moscow and Yekaterinenburg.

Like the first film, which was released on December 13, 2011 on almost 1,000 screens and racked up more than $ 22m box-office, the sequel will be shot simultaneously by several directors. This time round, Bekmambetov and Dmitry Kiselyov will be joined by Oksana Bychkova, Rezo Gigeinishvili, Alexander Kott, and Alexander Baranov.

Shooting has already begun on Bychkova’s section, Dress, about a girl (played by Mermaid actress Masha Shalaeva) who has one hour on New Year’s Eve to slim down in order to be able fit into her gala dress.

Alexander Kott – whose past credits include Two Drivers and Brest Fortress – will direct a story about a plane attempting an emergency landing with Vladimir Menshov playing a yard keeper in charge of the runway of an abandoned airport.

Meanwhile, Anna Chipovskaya and Peter Fedorov will appear in Alexander Baranov’s story Father about a girl asking Father Frost to grant her wish for her father to come home on New Year’s Eve. Baranov’s romantic drama Big Potato, which is being developed as a co-production between M.Production and CTB Film Company, was one of the projects pitched at this week’s Co-production Forum.

Maria Proshina and Dato Bahtadze, who appeared in the first film, will return for the sequel in a story directed by Rezo Gigineishvili as they start trying to have a baby.

Also returning will be Alexander Domogarov J. and Alexander Golovin, who will feature in Dmitry Kiselyov’s story Bath.

In addition, Victor Verzhbitsky will reprise his role as a policeman out to spoil someone’s New Year’s Eve, and Ivan Urgant and Sergey Svetlakov’s characters  will appear in another race against time set to be directed by Bekmambetov.

Posting more than 5m admissions, Six Degrees Of Celebration has been the leading Russian release of 2011 and the most successful Russian film since Bekmambetov’s 2007 film The Irony of Fate. Continuation.

In keeping with tradition, the film’s production company Bazelevs will be releasing Six Degrees Of Celebration 2012 on December 15, just ahead of the New Year holidays.