"Russians are different people"

The Cannes showed the animated film “Winter in March” about a pair of new Russian emigrants. We talked with its creator

At the Cannes Film Festival, a film dedicated to Russian anti -war emigration was first presented. Winter in march (“West in March”) was made at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) Armenian director Natalya Mirzoyan.

Natalya Mirzoyan was born and raised in Armenia. In the middle of the two thousandth, she moved to St. Petersburg and lived in two countries. There, she began to work in the Petersburg animation studio, and in parallel her short films “Childhood Tree”, “Chinty”, “Five minutes to the Sea” and “Hello, Babnik!” They were nominated and won at international film festivals. The work was awarded prizes on Berlinal, Annesi, Zagrebsky Film Festival and Hiroshima. In 2021, Natalia spent most of her time in Armenia. The beginning of the war, she and her family found in Russia, from where in March 2022, together with her husband and the child, she returned to her homeland. In the same year, Natalya entered EKA and moved to Tallinn. While the director was in Armenia, she collected interviews from friends who also left Russia. This prompted her to make a film. The main characters “Winter was winter” in March, Kirill and Dasha - a couple of Russians in whom the war in Ukraine caused horror and guilt for what was happening. Dasha’s reaction - protest, Cyril - depression. Realizing that in Russia they no longer have a place, the couple decides to move to Georgia. “A journey that is happening more in metaphysical than in real space is filled with metaphors of war. The train runs along the Russian-Ukrainian border, allowing a couple to observe gloomy paintings. Meanwhile, their fellow travelers, it seems, do not notice anything strange, ”says the synopsis.

- Tell us how you were in Estonia?

-I moved to Russia, to St. Petersburg, when I was 23 years old: I have a grandmother from St. Petersburg. Peter is not someone else's city for me. I had not liked what was happening in Russia for a long time, including because of this my husband and I were going to leave. We chose Estonia very carefully. Before the war, it was an advantage that it is located near St. Petersburg. We, like people from St. Petersburg, very often went to Tallinn, where we had friends.

The most important thing is that Estonia is generally a unique country in terms of animation. I even have a joke that in Estonia the largest number of animators in percentage per capita.

- How does the Estonian animation school differ from the Russian?

- The Estonian animation school has very deep traditions, including puppet animation has always been developed. I wanted to work with puppet animation, which is simply not in St. Petersburg. I never wanted to go to Moscow. The Estonian animation was formed by the Priyt Pyarn ( the founder of the Estonian animation studio Eesti Joonismfilm. - Approx. Ed. ) - one of the largest names in world animation. Its influence is still felt.

It differs very much from the Russian school. In the Russian animation school, history is very important. Estonians, on the contrary, work with almost no narrative, and everything is built on some absurd gags. They have very specific humor, which was always close to me.

- How did you understand that you want to make an animated film about what you and your friends had to endure?

- I had a completely incomprehensible desire to record our conversations. I arrived in Armenia, and suddenly [after the start of the war], friends from St. Petersburg and Moscow arrived there. For me, these were two separate worlds, I lived between the two countries. The fact that suddenly the Russians began to break into the Armenian world was very surreal.

In the first months of the war, I had the feeling that I was living in some dream, an altered state of consciousness. And not only me, but also my friends. It seemed to me that they needed to speak out, but I need to write it down.

In 2022, for some reason, it seemed to me that now it was necessary to make a film on some abstract topic, in no way related to what was happening. As if I did not want or seemed to be unimportant. Then I thought that maybe it was not worth working on fresh sensations and traces, not understanding properly. But when I arrived in Estonia, we had a documentary animation lesson, I remembered these interviews. The head of the Department of Animation, Ulo Pickov, greatly supported the idea of ​​making [the film] according to the records.

- Why did you decide to focus on Dasha and Cyril, and did not take a few stories?

- It seemed to me that the mosaic always turns out as if about everything and nothing. I look at friends around and what is happening to them. And maybe just quite by chance I stumbled upon such a typical story about the behavior of men and women in such a situation. When you delve into one story, into a relationship, there are more chances to reveal the characters. I had material, probably for a full meter, even if you take only this story. As a result, I got a film more about the relationship between women and men. Then it turned out that this is a universal story.

- Have you had doubts about whether it is worthwhile to affect the topic of Russian migrants? And what do you want to show this story to the audience?

- Of course, I had doubts about how to talk about it right now. On the other hand, this is what I know. I have Ukrainian friends, but I myself did not worry. Ukrainians themselves make films about their experience. I am closer, of course, I know the Russians and their experiences. Moreover, I have a Russian husband, and I see, for example, how he had a break in the family, and so on. First of all, it seems to me

It is very important to tell such stories, it is about people, and to stop, finally, to glue some labels. Russians are such and Russian, Russians are different people. There are such wonderful guys as my heroes.

It seems to me that it is important for the Western viewer to understand that there are completely different people. Unfortunately, their very small percentage in Russia - which is why [including] protests are impossible. But these people are. And they also have feelings. Of course, this is not comparable with what is happening in Ukraine. But they, too, seemed to be destroyed by life, just differently.

- How unexpected for you was to get into a short program of the festival?

- Simple enough, honestly. I had doubts whether this film should be released right now. The animation has been done for so long that I was sure that while I was completing, the war was already over - they still did not expect that it would be so long. I knew that I would do [the film] for three years, and, of course, hoped that the war could not last more than six months. As a result, my film was sent to Cannes not yet ready. My producer said that we do not know what will happen in the world. Therefore, we simply sent a working version and received an answer literally three days later. It was a very good incentive to finish the film, because we could not finish it, gather with strength, there were difficulties with financing, but here we completed just in two or three months. So thanks to Cannes, we got a deadline.

- How much time has passed from an idea to the premiere?

- I had very vague ideas in June 2022, but there was no clear intention to make a film. The first semester I was looking for myself, ideas. Since the beginning of 2023, I have already actively started. It turns out two with a few years.

- What does participation in the Cannes festival mean for you?

- My previous films fell on Berlinal, but I have never been to Cannes. This is probably great. Of course, there will be some attention to the film-and to the problem, which is important. It is very strange to me.

On the one hand, there are some kind of kanns, red paths, I can’t even imagine how it is. On the other hand, the news that falls on us every day ... as if it is all incomparable.

The feeling that we live in some parallel realities.

I have no expectations, because I have never been there and I don’t even know how this is happening ( the interview was taken before showing the Cannes. - Approx. Ed. ). For example, my co-author in music Evgeny Fedorov wrote in his post: "What to wear now?" I hope that you can still get to shows without any special clothing, because I honestly do not have it.

-Do you plan to somehow affect the topic of Russian migrants who are in Armenia, Georgia, and other countries?

- I think not. I have a small exhibition project [for this film]. An exhibition was already made at the Academy of Arts. I hope to develop this project into an interactive exhibition, where some details that failed to show more deeply, because the film lasts only 16 minutes. I had an interview with my heroes for six hours, of which only five minutes entered the film. There were a lot of important thoughts and words. I hope that this will succeed in the exhibition format. But so far I need to rest and then do the exhibition. And in the cinema, I hope that I will have another topic.

- Where can you watch the movie after the premiere?

- Unfortunately, with the author’s animation, everything is a little difficult in terms of speed. But we have already begun to send a film to other animated festivals - there are a lot of them around the world. Then I will publish some upcoming shows on my Facebook page. Unfortunately, the film will travel to festivals around the world for at least another year or two. You can follow the announcements and try to look on the big screen. It seems to me that in the hall on the big screen there is always a completely different effect from the film. I think that only by the end of the year the film may appear online.