In the Krasnoyarsk colony, convicts are filming an animated series about their lives

The Stalker International Human Rights Film Festival, whose president for almost a quarter of a century was the classic of Russian cinema Marlen Khutsiev, and then Vadim Abdrashitov, these days presents films in Krasnoyarsk. The animation was shown in a medical correctional institution for convicts, who, as it turned out, are themselves filming an animated series in the colony.

In Krasnoyarsk, the best films from his program were shown more than once, and filmmakers visited the colonies. When we arrived, the city was impressed by the concert of Alexander Rosenbaum in the same tuberculosis hospital where we were to go. He spoke mainly to the staff of the penitentiary system, to the doctors, one of whom asked to pinch her. The shots of how the singer did it went around the television screens. Then they compiled a list of convicts admitted for good behavior to the audience, among them were our viewers.

Having passed the stage of checks, having handed over our things to the storage room, we ended up on the territory of the Regional Tuberculosis Hospital. We were not shown the salt room for the convicts, as Rosenbaum, who is a doctor by profession. But we saw the chapel, the sculpture of the sister of mercy Dasha of Sevastopol, the figures of deer, which on warm days will turn green with grass. Much was done by the hands of the prisoners. On one of the doors there is a sign of the starter-picking block, where cabbage and other vegetables are salted for patients. Then it was already possible to find out from the convicts how they are fed. They unanimously answered that it was good. No one expected a different answer. The dialogue was like, “What’s good?” – “They give us pasta, cutlets.”

We go to the auditorium. We only see the back. Nobody turns around. There are men and women here, which is probably only possible in a hospital. On the backs there are inscriptions, for example, “Trauma”, indicating the treatment in the trauma department. Someone’s hand is bandaged. Someone from the surgical department. Women are bright – fiery red, blonde. Relatives bring them hair dye. One convict has an unusual haircut – two in one. She has short hair, but part of her hair falls below her shoulders. As it turns out, no one bans “model” hairstyles.

It was possible to show only three cartoons instead of the planned five. Among them is Anton Dyakov’s “Box Ballet”, which won in Australia, Canada, Italy, received the Icarus National Animation Award, and was nominated for an Oscar. In an interview with MK, Anton Dyakov said that he was grateful to any aunt and grandmother who accidentally saw his film and responded, and this makes him no less delighted than the nomination of the American Film Academy. And so his film about the love of a fragile ballerina and a hefty boxer was watched and understood by such an unusual audience. The heavyweight, under the influence of a meeting with a sophisticated girl, is transformed, begins to go to the Tretyakov Gallery and the theater, refuses to take doping and is defeated in battle.

The Blue Lion by Zoya Trofimova, who won the Grand Prix at last year’s Suzdal Animation Festival, tells the story of a village peasant who saved a kitten. His foundling grew up, turned out to be a blue lion, began to help with the housework. The neighbors wrote a complaint against my grandfather, after which soldiers with a cannon arrived in the village. The old man had to leave with the blue lion for a foreign land, where multi-colored lions live and where they are ready to accept anyone as he is. Zoya Trofimova was born in Sverdlovsk and has been living and working in France for many years. Her film is made in the style of a northern house painting and has become relevant in a world where more and more people are forced to leave their homes.

The debut film “Where Daddies Go” by Alina Khabarova is dedicated to all children who are looking for dads, and dads who have gone astray. In the mind of the boy who became the hero of the picture, fathers are classified into groups. The most numerous of them are astronauts, because mothers tell their children that their father flew into space. Or maybe dad wanted to become a confectioner and left to bake cupcakes for the French king, and he sent him to jail. Dad can dance on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater or fight the coronavirus, but no matter what he does, the child is always waiting for him.

They watched the cartoons superbly, reacting vividly to remarks, individual characters, some heroine grinning her teeth, to a boxer. Discussions with our viewers failed. They don’t ask questions. I ask: “How long do you think the cartoon is filmed?” The answer is six months. In fact, 10 minutes of animation takes about two years to create. The 17-year-old “Blue Lion” was born for almost five years. One of the convicts said in a private conversation that everyone had their own associations, that the films were excellent, they had never seen such films before. She’s the most combative here. And the interview was invited to give it to her. During the conversation, it turned out that there is Sergei among the convicts, who also makes cartoons, but not for two years, but for several days. Sergey also helped to show our program. We ask permission to meet and see what he does.

Sergei is still a very young man, he was a television cameraman, convicted of drugs, he has been in prison for two years, and he will serve his term until 2028. He, like every convict, has a hope for early release. We are shown a small room that has recently appeared. It is set up as a studio. Together with another convict (he is also serving a term for drugs), who in his former life was engaged in the sale of shoes, they create cartoons. They do not draw themselves, they find everything on the Internet. Their freed friend voiced the cartoons. Now they don’t know how to work without him, they even want to close the series on this. They think there is no replacement. And filmed already 13-14 episodes.

Photographs of convicts are not allowed, except from the back and with special permission. In general, we handed over everything at the entrance to the institution. A press officer comes to the rescue. I ask the guys for permission to shoot. They are ready. We watch their film together. They film the internal regulations of correctional institutions, developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They spell out what convicts are entitled to, and what absolutely cannot be done. For example, they must keep living quarters, workplaces, clothes clean and tidy. Amateur animators show us a set of these rules, a book with a bright cover. We open it, and the first thing that comes across is a clause on the inadmissibility of transferring alcoholic products to convicts. This, too, could become the plot of the next series.

There are three heroes in the animated series. One is serving a sentence, the second is an employee of the institution, the third is something like a superman, who is dressed accordingly. This is an instructive character, broadcasting the rules of conduct, explaining what can and cannot be done. The convicts are shown each new series as they are ready. They have their own TV channel. They themselves shoot stories about their life, watch them in the evenings, exchange with other colonies. It brightens up the harsh life.