Author’s film festival ended in Moscow with the triumph of Yakut filmmakers

A lethargic dream seen through the eyes of Lyubov Borisova excited Alexei German and his colleagues

The first Open festival of auteur films “Winter” has ended in Moscow. The jury led by film director Alexei German gave the main awards to Yakut films. The story of a lethargic dream in the film “Don’t Bury Me Without Ivan” by Lyubov Borisova made a strong impression on the jury, who awarded him the award for the best film.

In addition to Alexei German, the jury included: actors Elena Lyadova and Nikita Tarasov, cameraman and already a classic of Soviet and Russian cinema Vladimir Klimov, writer and playwright Dmitry Danilov. Presenting the main award, Alexei German said: “Wonderful picture! This is a movie that could be shown at any festival – in Cannes, Berlin, Venice. And it would be absolutely not a shame. I don’t understand at all how there are so many sincere, talented, amazing people in our time in one northern part of the country.”

“Don’t Bury Me Without Ivan” is based on a true story that took place in 1910 in Yakutia. The main character – Yakut Stepan Beresekov – periodically falls into a lethargic sleep. And only the son of a Russian priest, Ivan Popov, is able to distinguish this state from death. When he goes on an ethnographic expedition, Stepan follows him to avoid being buried alive himself.

Lyubov Borisova is a graduate of the Yakutsk State University, she studied the world economy, and then – cinema and literature of the circumpolar region. In 2018, she made her debut with the feature film The Sun Doesn’t Set Above Me, which she directed according to her own script and won the Audience Award at the Moscow International Film Festival and numerous awards around the world.

Another director from Yakutsk, Stepan Burnashev, was recognized as the best director at the Open Festival of Author’s Film. He directed his first film in 2009 using his own funds. His paintings were shown in Warsaw, Sydney, Los Angeles, Busan, and at Russian film festivals.

Stepan is a very talented director who never repeats himself, works with equal success in a variety of genres, which is unique in itself. And now he has presented in Moscow the film “Aita” about the tragedy in a small Yakut village where a schoolgirl died. While the reasons are established, her father seeks revenge. A note found with her daughter that she hates Afonya is enough to crack down on a Russian policeman bearing this name.

The role of the investigator Nikolai was played by an excellent actor from the Yakutsk Theater. Oyunsky Innokenty Lukovtsev. His hero develops a plan to take his unfortunate colleague out of the village, but it is difficult to do this, since all the roads have been washed out, and it is impossible to knock out the helicopter from the authorities – too expensive. The jury awarded Innokenty Lukovtsev with an award for the best male role.

The award for the best female role was awarded to Anna Slyu in the film “Flood” by Ivan Tverdovsky Jr., based on two works by Yevgeny Zamyatin – “Flood” and “North”. A special diploma “For sincerity” was awarded to actress Olga Simonova for her role in Igor Voloshin’s Medea. She played a mother of two children who is divorced from their father.

Two awards went to “Doctor” Artem Temnikov. The jury noted the script work of Tamara Bacharova, Artem Temnikov and Maria Anufrieva. The script was called “Wounded Birds” and was written based on the novel “Doctor X and His Children” by Maria Anufrieva. This story took place in a clinic where mentally unstable children are kept. They are trying to be cured by non-traditional methods, including poetry, Dr. Khristoforov. His role was played by Sergei Puskepalis. He miraculously managed to voice the picture two weeks before his death in an accident near Yaroslavl.

Sergei Puskepalis was posthumously awarded the “Thank You” award. His son, actor Gleb Puskepalis, was going to come to the premiere of the film, but he never came. He fell ill, or perhaps he did not find the strength to be present in difficult days for himself among his father’s colleagues.

“Big snakes of Ulli-Kale” by Alexei Fedorchenko was awarded by the jury for the best visual solution, which usually means both the work of the operator (Artem Anisimov) and the production designer (Alexey Maximov). And in this case, this is the author’s work of Fedorchenko himself, who created an original film about the relationship between Russia and the Caucasus.