The director Valeriya Gai Germanika introduced the film Mashenka, which is part of the Documentary Film Competition of the 48th Moscow International Film Festival.
What was intended to be a documentary about volunteers helping the homeless suddenly turns into a narrative about impossible love. A film producer falls in love with the main character, a homeless man named Edik. The camera captures not only the social drama but an inner revolution which comes at a price. Fighting against addiction, rejection, the lure of the streets, and the fear of being authentic. Yet, against all odds, in this struggle we see a radical act of recognizing humanity in someone who is usually overlooked. This is not a film about the homeless and volunteers. It is a film about boundaries that dissolve when we finally begin to see human beings in one another.
Valeriya Gai Germanika: "Edik was not part of the Special Military Operation, but he was involved in the events that took place in Donbas in 2014, after which he had a post-traumatic stress disorder. This film is called Mashenka because it’s about my friend, a producer, with whom we started making a film about volunteers working with the homeless, sex workers, people with AIDS, marginalized people. I chose Edik as the main character: he was both homeless and a volunteer. But Masha suddenly started a relationship with him during the shooting, and I began filming their story without any idea how it would go. My next film will be about myself: I spent two years filming my life and my suffering. In a nutshell, it’s a film about a director, a woman, an artist. And in fiction films, I’m drawn to custom films; I’m now working on a big project like that, and I really like I can make a film from scratch there".
What was intended to be a documentary about volunteers helping the homeless suddenly turns into a narrative about impossible love. A film producer falls in love with the main character, a homeless man named Edik. The camera captures not only the social drama but an inner revolution which comes at a price. Fighting against addiction, rejection, the lure of the streets, and the fear of being authentic. Yet, against all odds, in this struggle we see a radical act of recognizing humanity in someone who is usually overlooked. This is not a film about the homeless and volunteers. It is a film about boundaries that dissolve when we finally begin to see human beings in one another.
Valeriya Gai Germanika: "Edik was not part of the Special Military Operation, but he was involved in the events that took place in Donbas in 2014, after which he had a post-traumatic stress disorder. This film is called Mashenka because it’s about my friend, a producer, with whom we started making a film about volunteers working with the homeless, sex workers, people with AIDS, marginalized people. I chose Edik as the main character: he was both homeless and a volunteer. But Masha suddenly started a relationship with him during the shooting, and I began filming their story without any idea how it would go. My next film will be about myself: I spent two years filming my life and my suffering. In a nutshell, it’s a film about a director, a woman, an artist. And in fiction films, I’m drawn to custom films; I’m now working on a big project like that, and I really like I can make a film from scratch there".