The participants of the Short Film Competition of the 48th Moscow International Film Festival spoke about their films and the ideas that guided them in their work on the films.
The film Good Children Keep Silent follows Emma, a journalist investigating the disappearance of her sister, Vlada. Suspecting a connection to the case of the serial killer known as "The Educator", who was active ten years ago, she finds herself deadlocked. Her only lead is Danila, a former ward and victim of the Educator who knows about a secret hut and offers to take her there. But the trip turns out to be a trap: Danila turns out to be the Educator's henchman, and Emma is his new victim.
Petr Eliseev, the screenwriter of the fil Good Children Keep Silent: "It started out as my thesis project, which turned into a short film. Filming wasn’t easy: we shot for two days in Istra, and what saved us was that we had a solid team and a wonderful cook who agreed to feed us almost for free. Also, the film was the acting debut of the youth actress Milana Simonova, she played her first role, and now you can see her on the screens of the Oktyabr Cinema".
The main character of the film Vasu is a former police officer who is haunted by his past, which has left deep scars on his soul. As his psychological trauma and sense of guilt become unbearable, he decides to confess to his crimes, knowing that his life will change forever.
Sidharth Harikumar, the director of the film Vasu: "This is my graduation project in cinematography at the Berlin Film School. I am the director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and producer of this film. My film focuses on the feelings of trauma and guilt experienced by a former police officer suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This film is about a generation I call "the generation of stoicism": they were raised to suppress their feelings and emotions rather than openly express them".
The female character of the film Eternal Love is Ting, a chef who must prepare her family’s signature dish to save their restaurant from closing. However, she has long since forgotten the recipe.
Hao Zheng, the director of the film Eternal Love: "I was raised by my grandmother, who shared everything about arts with me: she told me about painting, music, cinema, and literature. And it’s impossible to imagine any of these fields without Russian art, so I’m so happy to introduce my film right here, at the Moscow International Film Festival. My story is about the connection between the past and the future, and about the value of family, which is very important in China, where meals is also one of the most important family rituals".
The film Dortmund Shadows Over Mordovia tells the story of Yakov and his younger sister Sandra, who lives in a quiet Mordovian village, plays soccer and dreams of a big career. They are fans of Borussia Dortmund and love Roman Polanski’s films, but soon they have to be separated – Sandra has been invited to Moscow.
Ivan Vetoshkin, the director of the film Dortmund Shadows Over Mordovia: "There are two things I love most of all – Mordovia, where my mother and my elders are from, and soccer, so I decided to combine them here. We had a very small film crew. It was just me, the cinematographer Madina Amirova, and the film’s actors, none of whom I knew before shooting, but I simply offered my project two months before the start and a trip to Mordovia, a region that, unfortunately, has a reputation as a land of prisons and many criminals. But I’m happy that in the end, both the actors and the cinematographer agreed to go, and we shot our film".
The main character of the film Mom, Vera, has remained silent for many years, but now things make her burst into the life of the successful composer Andrey. This encounter will forever divide their lives into "before" and "after".
Ivan Sosnin, the director of the film Mom: "I’ve long wanted to make a film set in a confined space. I love Roman Polanski’s films Carnage and Venus in Fur, and I wanted to adapt a similar story, at least a bit of it, into a short film. This film is an experiment for me; it’s more rough than my previous work, but I chose to go in that direction on purpose. I grew up with my mother, without a father, and only many years later did I learn that my father was alive, and that his children, my brothers and sisters, live in the same city, and some of them even attend the same university as I do. The idea for the film came to me around the same time I shot the film The Interview with Aleksey Serebryakov, and now I’ve decided that the time has come to reflect on that story".
Darya Ekamasova, an actress of the film Mom: "For me, there’s no difference between feature films and short films. I try to find a balance regardless of the format, whether it’s a debut film, a TV series, or an international project. What matters to me is having a great role, a great director, and a great crew".
The film Nowhere, Somewhere tells the story of Park Lim, a Korean woman living in China, who returns to Korea to be with her mother after her father’s sudden death. She tries to prove to herself and others that she does not deserve to be labeled an "irresponsible foreigner". When a job offer comes from China, she hesitates. Her mother objects, and their differing views on social prejudices cause a conflict.
An Huilin, the director of the film Nowhere, Somewhere: "This was my master’s thesis project, and it is a great honor for me it has been selected for the Moscow International Film Festival. This film is to a great extent autobiographical, as I myself am a Chinese of Korean origin, and here I show my first trip to Korea and how I was treated there. I wanted to show that today's generation of ethnic Koreans in China is very much different from the past, when they were mostly people with only a secondary or no education at all, and people somewhat looked down on them".
The main character of the film Peer Gynt is a young Norwegian man who lives in a world of fantasy and fairy tales. His dream is to become a king, an emperor, or at least a prince. He is not accepted In his hometown, and his mother keeps scolding him for his dissipation. But then, while wandering through the forest, Per comes closer to fulfilling his dream: he meets the daughter of Dovre, a mysterious king…
Elizaveta Penzenskaya, the director of the film Per Gynt: "This is my first film festival; I only graduated from Sergey Solovyov’s workshop last year. Before my first festival experience, I was terribly nervous and braced myself for the worst possible reaction to my film, but fortunately, that didn’t happen".
The film Kokice tells the story of Milan, a popcorn vendor who kicks his son out of the house for taking part in student protests. When the young man actually goes missing in strike-ridden Belgrade, his father sets out to find him. Through a number of strange encounters, Milan comes to rethink his entire life.
Andrey Krechetov, the director of the film Kokice: "I first visited Belgrade in October 2023 and fell completely in love with the city. I was there at the time to shoot a commercial project, but later decided to return, live among the Serbs, and immerse myself in the culture. We watched a lot of Yugoslav New Wave films, and we attended family celebrations, including private ones where foreigners aren’t allowed, but our production designer called me his brother and invited me to such a celebration, which was very important for the film".
Inga Danilevich, the producer of the film Kokice: "At first, it was supposed to be a musical, but we later dropped that idea. We put the film together in six months, and just over a hundred people were involved at every stage of filming and production. The most difficult part for Andrey and me was immersing ourselves in the Serbian mindset, since we don’t speak good Serbian, even though we’ve been living in Belgrade for several years and are very actively immersing ourselves in the Serbian culture. We even went over the film’s script with Serbians to ensure there was some local slang in it".
The film Good Children Keep Silent follows Emma, a journalist investigating the disappearance of her sister, Vlada. Suspecting a connection to the case of the serial killer known as "The Educator", who was active ten years ago, she finds herself deadlocked. Her only lead is Danila, a former ward and victim of the Educator who knows about a secret hut and offers to take her there. But the trip turns out to be a trap: Danila turns out to be the Educator's henchman, and Emma is his new victim.
Petr Eliseev, the screenwriter of the fil Good Children Keep Silent: "It started out as my thesis project, which turned into a short film. Filming wasn’t easy: we shot for two days in Istra, and what saved us was that we had a solid team and a wonderful cook who agreed to feed us almost for free. Also, the film was the acting debut of the youth actress Milana Simonova, she played her first role, and now you can see her on the screens of the Oktyabr Cinema".
The main character of the film Vasu is a former police officer who is haunted by his past, which has left deep scars on his soul. As his psychological trauma and sense of guilt become unbearable, he decides to confess to his crimes, knowing that his life will change forever.
Sidharth Harikumar, the director of the film Vasu: "This is my graduation project in cinematography at the Berlin Film School. I am the director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and producer of this film. My film focuses on the feelings of trauma and guilt experienced by a former police officer suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. This film is about a generation I call "the generation of stoicism": they were raised to suppress their feelings and emotions rather than openly express them".
The female character of the film Eternal Love is Ting, a chef who must prepare her family’s signature dish to save their restaurant from closing. However, she has long since forgotten the recipe.
Hao Zheng, the director of the film Eternal Love: "I was raised by my grandmother, who shared everything about arts with me: she told me about painting, music, cinema, and literature. And it’s impossible to imagine any of these fields without Russian art, so I’m so happy to introduce my film right here, at the Moscow International Film Festival. My story is about the connection between the past and the future, and about the value of family, which is very important in China, where meals is also one of the most important family rituals".
The film Dortmund Shadows Over Mordovia tells the story of Yakov and his younger sister Sandra, who lives in a quiet Mordovian village, plays soccer and dreams of a big career. They are fans of Borussia Dortmund and love Roman Polanski’s films, but soon they have to be separated – Sandra has been invited to Moscow.
Ivan Vetoshkin, the director of the film Dortmund Shadows Over Mordovia: "There are two things I love most of all – Mordovia, where my mother and my elders are from, and soccer, so I decided to combine them here. We had a very small film crew. It was just me, the cinematographer Madina Amirova, and the film’s actors, none of whom I knew before shooting, but I simply offered my project two months before the start and a trip to Mordovia, a region that, unfortunately, has a reputation as a land of prisons and many criminals. But I’m happy that in the end, both the actors and the cinematographer agreed to go, and we shot our film".
The main character of the film Mom, Vera, has remained silent for many years, but now things make her burst into the life of the successful composer Andrey. This encounter will forever divide their lives into "before" and "after".
Ivan Sosnin, the director of the film Mom: "I’ve long wanted to make a film set in a confined space. I love Roman Polanski’s films Carnage and Venus in Fur, and I wanted to adapt a similar story, at least a bit of it, into a short film. This film is an experiment for me; it’s more rough than my previous work, but I chose to go in that direction on purpose. I grew up with my mother, without a father, and only many years later did I learn that my father was alive, and that his children, my brothers and sisters, live in the same city, and some of them even attend the same university as I do. The idea for the film came to me around the same time I shot the film The Interview with Aleksey Serebryakov, and now I’ve decided that the time has come to reflect on that story".
Darya Ekamasova, an actress of the film Mom: "For me, there’s no difference between feature films and short films. I try to find a balance regardless of the format, whether it’s a debut film, a TV series, or an international project. What matters to me is having a great role, a great director, and a great crew".
The film Nowhere, Somewhere tells the story of Park Lim, a Korean woman living in China, who returns to Korea to be with her mother after her father’s sudden death. She tries to prove to herself and others that she does not deserve to be labeled an "irresponsible foreigner". When a job offer comes from China, she hesitates. Her mother objects, and their differing views on social prejudices cause a conflict.
An Huilin, the director of the film Nowhere, Somewhere: "This was my master’s thesis project, and it is a great honor for me it has been selected for the Moscow International Film Festival. This film is to a great extent autobiographical, as I myself am a Chinese of Korean origin, and here I show my first trip to Korea and how I was treated there. I wanted to show that today's generation of ethnic Koreans in China is very much different from the past, when they were mostly people with only a secondary or no education at all, and people somewhat looked down on them".
The main character of the film Peer Gynt is a young Norwegian man who lives in a world of fantasy and fairy tales. His dream is to become a king, an emperor, or at least a prince. He is not accepted In his hometown, and his mother keeps scolding him for his dissipation. But then, while wandering through the forest, Per comes closer to fulfilling his dream: he meets the daughter of Dovre, a mysterious king…
Elizaveta Penzenskaya, the director of the film Per Gynt: "This is my first film festival; I only graduated from Sergey Solovyov’s workshop last year. Before my first festival experience, I was terribly nervous and braced myself for the worst possible reaction to my film, but fortunately, that didn’t happen".
The film Kokice tells the story of Milan, a popcorn vendor who kicks his son out of the house for taking part in student protests. When the young man actually goes missing in strike-ridden Belgrade, his father sets out to find him. Through a number of strange encounters, Milan comes to rethink his entire life.
Andrey Krechetov, the director of the film Kokice: "I first visited Belgrade in October 2023 and fell completely in love with the city. I was there at the time to shoot a commercial project, but later decided to return, live among the Serbs, and immerse myself in the culture. We watched a lot of Yugoslav New Wave films, and we attended family celebrations, including private ones where foreigners aren’t allowed, but our production designer called me his brother and invited me to such a celebration, which was very important for the film".
Inga Danilevich, the producer of the film Kokice: "At first, it was supposed to be a musical, but we later dropped that idea. We put the film together in six months, and just over a hundred people were involved at every stage of filming and production. The most difficult part for Andrey and me was immersing ourselves in the Serbian mindset, since we don’t speak good Serbian, even though we’ve been living in Belgrade for several years and are very actively immersing ourselves in the Serbian culture. We even went over the film’s script with Serbians to ensure there was some local slang in it".