From "Deadline" to the Grand Prix

Pavel Ruminov's film received the main prize at Kinotavr

On June 10, the XXIII Kinotavr festival ended in Sochi. As part of the competition program, the event's jury, which included the program director of Kinotavr itself, Sitora Aliyeva, and a number of film critics from various publications, watched 15 full-length films and 20 short films. As a result, the main festival prize went to Pavel Ruminov’s film “I’ll Be There”, and Mikhail Mestetsky’s work “Legs - Atavism” was recognized as the best short film.

“I’ll Be There” is the story of a single mother, Inna, raising her son Mitya. According to the plot, a woman finds out that she is terminally ill. After this, the heroine decides to start looking for new parents for her child. The main role in Ruminov’s film was played by Maria Shalaeva (“Rusalka”).

Ruminov, which is typical, gained fame precisely after his debut at Kinotavr in 2004. Then the festival program included his short film “Deadline”, which as a result was awarded a diploma with the wording “For a very convincing depiction of torture in modern screenwriting.” In 2007, the director attracted the attention of a more or less wide audience by releasing the film “Dead Daughters” - a kind of variation on the theme of the Japanese “Ring”. The film was also remembered for the scene with a flying cow (in this trailer, for example, you can see the ruminant at about 23 seconds). Then came a period of calm. Ruminov did not sit idle at the same time. Firstly, he continued to shoot, although mostly short films, which few people had heard of. Secondly, as the director admits in an interview , all these years (to be very specific - the last eight years) he nurtured the idea of the film "I'll Be There" and honed his creative method.

It is noteworthy that the film “I’ll Be There” was originally conceived as a television mini-series (it seems like there are four- and six-episode versions of it). The above-mentioned interview with Ruminov was conducted before the film was shown at Kinotavr and, accordingly, before the announcement of the laureates. According to the director, at that time he had not yet seen the full-length version of the film and even assumed that it might “not work.” However, according to the jury, this version turned out to be not only working, but also very successful. As a result, Ruminov, in a sense, came full circle - he returned to Kinotavr with a full-length feature and received the Grand Prix for it.

Still from the film "Live"

I would also like to separately highlight several films that received two festival awards. This is, in particular, Vasily Sigarev’s drama “To Live”. Sigarev already had a very successful performance at Kinotavr in 2009. Then his film "Top" was recognized as the best festival film, and also received awards for the script (the author of which was the director himself) and the female role played by Vasily's wife, Yana Troyanova. Troyanova also starred in the film “To Live,” however, both the actress and the film itself were less fortunate this time. The new film was awarded for the direction and cinematography of Alisher Khamidjodzhaev.

Two awards also went to “Convoy” by Alexey Mizgirev. Azamat Nigmanov, who starred in the film, received the award for best actor. In addition, the tape was awarded for music.

Avdotya Smirnova's new work "Cococo" also received, in a sense, two awards - albeit in one nomination. The film is about a friendship that suddenly began between two women from different Russian cities. Anna Mikhalkova plays Lisa from St. Petersburg, the aforementioned Yana Troyanova plays Vika, a resident of Yekaterinburg. The festival jury decided to award both actresses. True, Mikhalkova did not appear at the ceremony, citing being busy. Smirnova herself received the award for it.

Still from the film "Cococo"

The film "Kokoko", generally speaking, became almost the main premiere of this "Kinotavr". Smirnova’s previous film “Two Days” was also presented to the public at the Sochi Film Festival - however, at that time the film was not included in the competition program. It is noteworthy that the director again co-wrote the script for “Kokoko” with Anna Parmas, who worked on “Two Days.” One way or another, the demonstration of Smirnova’s new film caused a full house at Kinotavr-2012. Moreover, the filmmaker’s husband, Anatoly Chubais, even came to the premiere (due to which reinforced police were deployed to the site where the screening took place ).

The prize for best script was won by Mikhail Segal. The jury awarded the award to the plot for the film "Stories" (which, by the way, was directed by Segal himself). Let us remind you that last year Mikhail’s work “The World of Fasteners” won the short film competition at Kinotavr.

The film "Daughter", on which two directors worked at once - Natalya Nazarova and Alexander Kasatkin, was recognized as the best debut. Nazarova also acted as a screenwriter for the film - and it is in this area that she is far from a debutant. Previously, she worked, for example, on the scripts for the film “My Boyfriend is an Angel” and the TV series “Ranetki”.

As for Mestetsky’s short film “Legs - Atavism,” which also became a Kinotavr winner, its full version is available on YouTube , so everyone can form their own idea of this cinematic work.

Both the Kinotavr 2012 program and the list of laureates, as always, raise some questions. Which, however, does not mean that there weren’t at least interesting works at the festival. Another thing is that even the most successful films of Kinotavr will have a very limited release and, probably, as a result will be deprived of public attention. Already now, on the Internet there is a noticeably more lively discussion not of the paintings, but of the burned down club “PLOTforma” and the fact that the director’s husband came to the premiere of Smirnova’s film in Sochi.

Sergey Obolonkov

From "Deadline" to the Grand Prix

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