Feature competition. Press Conference: “Modern filmmakers are looking for a new cinematic language”

The Cinematheque Hall of Kyiv Cinema held a press conference with the participants of the feature competition. The event was moderated by Svitlana Korotkova, who started the conversation by saying that “the festival program this year interesting and intense, and almost all films in the feature competition were based on original scripts.”

Shahrbanoo Sadat commented on the concept of her film “Wolves and Sheep”: “My film is very personal. We had to go to Tajikistan for filming. It was the first time that these actors travelled abroad. About 2000 children showed up for casting, I cast actors based on their looks, because they had to look like they were from Central Afghanistan - poor areas where people have no television and sometimes even electricity. First I made a short-list, then reduced it and made the final decision.”

One of the directors of the film “Wonderland” Tobias Nölle said that “his directorial biography is not very extraordinary” – he studied cinema, started by making short films, and then – full-length movies.

Producer of the film “Heartstone” shared her experience of working with child actors: “The specificity is that you should tell them when they can be just themselves on the screen, and when they should act, portray emotion. Rehearsals lasted for about six months.”

The director of “Heavenly Nomadic” Mirlan Abdykalykov said that it is harder to work with professional actors than with children. Mirlan is a journalist by training, though as a child he acted at his local Kyrgyz television station.

Another theme touched on at the press conference was the post-Soviet era and its atmosphere in the films of the feature competition – particularly in the film “Eva Nova” by Mark Skop and “Godless” by Ralitza Petrova. Actor Ventzislav Konstantinov, who played one of the main roles in the film “Godless”, stated that the post-communist era is worse than communism. The actor also added that he is “happy to be in Ukraine for the first time”. Regarding the film’s subject, Ventzislav said that “the director wanted the film to represent a period in life, to show life as it really is, and the lack of any music in the film emphasizes the cruelty of reality”. To the question “Would you leave the hopeful finale if you directed the film?", the actor replied, “No”, stressing that “modern directors are looking for a new cinematic language”, although, after watching Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film “Paths of Glory” at Molodist, he understands that it is good-quality old-school, however, the film industry has changed since then.

Next was Elite Zexer, director of the film “Sand Storm”, the creation of which she owes to her mother, who is a photographer: “Always the obedient daughter, I listen to my mother.” Elite also announced that she will make the next film in co-production between Ukraine and Israel.