Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller.
Totem Atelier, the development and production arm of the company, has revealed that it has boarded Korkia’s “A Short Summer.”
Korkia’s short documentary “Dreams About Putin” premiered at IDFA last year. Her first documentary feature “Ges-2” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
“A Short Summer” is produced by Germany’s TamTam, which produced Albert Serra’s “Pacifiction,” and Serbia’s Art&Popcorn.
The film centers on eight-year-old Katya, who is going on vacation with her grandparents. In the summer heat, the war in Chechnya takes shape, while her grandparents’ relationship falls apart. Despite her youth, Katya wants to look at the world straight in the eyes.
“A Short Summer” has received support from Creative Europe Media, Bkm, Moin, Cnc Aide au Cinémas du Monde,...
Totem Atelier, the development and production arm of the company, has revealed that it has boarded Korkia’s “A Short Summer.”
Korkia’s short documentary “Dreams About Putin” premiered at IDFA last year. Her first documentary feature “Ges-2” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
“A Short Summer” is produced by Germany’s TamTam, which produced Albert Serra’s “Pacifiction,” and Serbia’s Art&Popcorn.
The film centers on eight-year-old Katya, who is going on vacation with her grandparents. In the summer heat, the war in Chechnya takes shape, while her grandparents’ relationship falls apart. Despite her youth, Katya wants to look at the world straight in the eyes.
“A Short Summer” has received support from Creative Europe Media, Bkm, Moin, Cnc Aide au Cinémas du Monde,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has revealed its lineups for the competitions for short documentary and youth documentary, as well as the rosters for its Best of Fests section and its newly minted Signed section. In total, 100 films have been included in the IDFA program to date.
In addition, IDFA Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, has expanded to a total of 64 projects, including seven by Ukrainian filmmakers.
The 36th edition of IDFA runs from Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam.
The competition for short documentary showcases a healthy boom for the short film form. A mosaic of styles and themes defines this selection of 15 films, exploring everything a short documentary can be. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film.
Pegah Ahangarani returns to IDFA with a personal telling of family history and their experience of the Iranian revolution in “My Father,” and Nastia Korkia...
In addition, IDFA Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, has expanded to a total of 64 projects, including seven by Ukrainian filmmakers.
The 36th edition of IDFA runs from Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam.
The competition for short documentary showcases a healthy boom for the short film form. A mosaic of styles and themes defines this selection of 15 films, exploring everything a short documentary can be. An international jury of three jurors will award the best film.
Pegah Ahangarani returns to IDFA with a personal telling of family history and their experience of the Iranian revolution in “My Father,” and Nastia Korkia...
- 10/5/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The sun shines while the snow melts. There is a small feeling of hopeful anticipation in the crisply-shot city. But the domesticated and dark interiors tell a far different story — the simple life of Tamara, a primary school teacher. In stark, long, observational shots that betray Director Nastia Korkia’s background in documentary filmmaking, she attends school, teaches class, then is assigned the specific job of overseeing the votes at the Presidential Election. Moving at a slow and methodical pace, Almost Spring (Pochti Vesna) presents the corruption of Vladimir Putin and the United Russia party as a brutal foregone conclusion. The effect is notably chilling, displaying how normalised cheating has sadly become in everyday Russian life. As part of the film’s online premiere here on Dn, we asked Korkia to tell us all about shooting on film, recreating the feel of a traditional Russian school and what filmmakers from...
- 4/18/2023
- by Redmond Bacon
- Directors Notes
Exclusive: The Europe-based Pop Up Film Residency mentorship program has unveiled the filmmakers and mentors who will participate in its summer 2022 edition.
The program, which is among a number of feature development initiatives spearheaded by former TorinoFilmLab artistic director Matthieu Darras, consists of three-week residences focused on one project only in different locations across Europe.
Mentors for the upcoming edition include French director Lucile Hadžihalilović, who won San Sebastian’s Special Jury Prize last year for gothic psychological horror Earwig; Paraguayan filmmaker Marcelo Martinessi, whose debut film The Heiresses broke out with a Berlinale Silver Bear victory in 2018, and Marie Amachoukeli, a Caméra d’Or winner in 2014 for first film Party Girl, who is currently completing her first solo feature.
Confirmed feature directors joining the programme include Brazil’s Caru Alves de Souza, whose joint work with Raffaella Costa, My Name Is Baghdad won best film in the Berlinale...
The program, which is among a number of feature development initiatives spearheaded by former TorinoFilmLab artistic director Matthieu Darras, consists of three-week residences focused on one project only in different locations across Europe.
Mentors for the upcoming edition include French director Lucile Hadžihalilović, who won San Sebastian’s Special Jury Prize last year for gothic psychological horror Earwig; Paraguayan filmmaker Marcelo Martinessi, whose debut film The Heiresses broke out with a Berlinale Silver Bear victory in 2018, and Marie Amachoukeli, a Caméra d’Or winner in 2014 for first film Party Girl, who is currently completing her first solo feature.
Confirmed feature directors joining the programme include Brazil’s Caru Alves de Souza, whose joint work with Raffaella Costa, My Name Is Baghdad won best film in the Berlinale...
- 7/11/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
True/False Festival Returns In-Person With Annual Parade and Spirited Response to Docus About Russia
True/False, the preeminent non-fiction festival, returned as an in-person event Thursday, drawing documentary notables and fans of their work to a Missouri college town for the first lineup under the artistic direction of Chloe Trayner.
There were 31 features and 19 short non-fiction films at the fest, which had more of an international tilt than usual and concludes March 6. Eight features, including “Fire of Love,” “I Didn’t See You There” and “The Territory,” had previously debuted virtually at Sundance in January, but screened for the first time for public audiences at True/False.
Their respective directors — Sara Dosa (“Fire of Love”), Reid Davenport (“I Didn’t See You There”) Alex Pritz (“The Territory”) – were among the filmmakers making the trek to Columbia for the 19th edition of True/False. Fellow Sundance 2022 doc directors including Isabel Castro (“Mija”) and Joe Hunting (“We Met in Virtual Reality”) also attended.
“Sundance was amazing, but True...
There were 31 features and 19 short non-fiction films at the fest, which had more of an international tilt than usual and concludes March 6. Eight features, including “Fire of Love,” “I Didn’t See You There” and “The Territory,” had previously debuted virtually at Sundance in January, but screened for the first time for public audiences at True/False.
Their respective directors — Sara Dosa (“Fire of Love”), Reid Davenport (“I Didn’t See You There”) Alex Pritz (“The Territory”) – were among the filmmakers making the trek to Columbia for the 19th edition of True/False. Fellow Sundance 2022 doc directors including Isabel Castro (“Mija”) and Joe Hunting (“We Met in Virtual Reality”) also attended.
“Sundance was amazing, but True...
- 3/6/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Filmed over the course of one year, “Where Are We Headed?” – recently picked up by Taskovski Films – took director-cinematographer Ruslan Fedotow down into the Moscow Metro, where he found joy and sorrow commuting alongside each other every day. World premiering at IDFA, where it also got the support of the Bertha Fund, it played in EnergaCamerimage Film Festival’s Documentary Features Competition.
“I was thinking about this idea for a long time,” Fedotow tells Variety. “When I used to live in Belarus, taking the metro wasn’t just about getting from one point to another. I liked to observe people there. It’s a public space, like a library, a whole different life happening underground.”
Admitting that the pandemic has influenced his plans, he still spent two and a half years developing the film. Showing the metro as a place where people escape the cold, read, meet up and celebrate.
“I was thinking about this idea for a long time,” Fedotow tells Variety. “When I used to live in Belarus, taking the metro wasn’t just about getting from one point to another. I liked to observe people there. It’s a public space, like a library, a whole different life happening underground.”
Admitting that the pandemic has influenced his plans, he still spent two and a half years developing the film. Showing the metro as a place where people escape the cold, read, meet up and celebrate.
- 11/20/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Taskovski Films has acquired two further documentaries: Ruslan Fedotov’s “Where Are We Headed,” which plays in International Competition at IDFA, and Pilar Moreno and Ana Endara Mislov’s “For Your Peace of Mind, Make Your Own Museum,” which plays in the festival’s Envision Competition. The sales agency recently picked up “Turn Your Body to the Sun,” which world premieres in the International Competition section of IDFA.
“Where Are We Headed” is a year-long study of Russia’s capital conducted in the Moscow Metro, and captures the day-to-day life of ordinary city dwellers as well as momentous national occasions. “It is a study with elements of absurdist tragicomedy, with no central characters; instead, it is a wide-angle portrait of society with all the joys and challenges that it entails,” Taskovski commented.
The producers are Fedotov, Nastia Korkia, Matvey Fiks and Simon Zakruzhnyy for Pinery.
Fedotov’s first movie “Salamanca...
“Where Are We Headed” is a year-long study of Russia’s capital conducted in the Moscow Metro, and captures the day-to-day life of ordinary city dwellers as well as momentous national occasions. “It is a study with elements of absurdist tragicomedy, with no central characters; instead, it is a wide-angle portrait of society with all the joys and challenges that it entails,” Taskovski commented.
The producers are Fedotov, Nastia Korkia, Matvey Fiks and Simon Zakruzhnyy for Pinery.
Fedotov’s first movie “Salamanca...
- 11/17/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Locarno 2021 Golden Leopard Winner
The 74th edition of the Locarno Film Festival came to a close over the weekend, with Indonesian film director Edwin scooping the Golden Leopard in the International Competition with Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash. Elsewhere in the International Competition, the Golden Leopard for Best Direction went to Abel Ferrara for Zeroes And Ones, while Qiu Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play won the Special Jury Prize. Best Actress went to Anastasiya Krasovskaya for Gerda, while Best Actor was shared by Mohamed Mellali and Valero Escolar from The Odd-Job Men. Special mentions went to Soul Of A Beast and Espiritu Sagrado.
Venice Completes Line-Up
Venice Film Festival finalized its line-up today with the addition of three titles. They are: Graziano Conversano’s 52-minute documentary Ricostruire insieme – Biennale Architettura, which looks at the themes, works and figures of the 2021 Biennale architecture festival; Nastia Korkia’s docGes – 2, a visual reflection upon the project by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to renovate a former power plant in the centre of Moscow; and finally, Antonello Sarno’s Pietro Il Grande, a tribute to photojournalist Pietro Coccia, who died in 2018.
The 74th edition of the Locarno Film Festival came to a close over the weekend, with Indonesian film director Edwin scooping the Golden Leopard in the International Competition with Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash. Elsewhere in the International Competition, the Golden Leopard for Best Direction went to Abel Ferrara for Zeroes And Ones, while Qiu Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play won the Special Jury Prize. Best Actress went to Anastasiya Krasovskaya for Gerda, while Best Actor was shared by Mohamed Mellali and Valero Escolar from The Odd-Job Men. Special mentions went to Soul Of A Beast and Espiritu Sagrado.
Venice Completes Line-Up
Venice Film Festival finalized its line-up today with the addition of three titles. They are: Graziano Conversano’s 52-minute documentary Ricostruire insieme – Biennale Architettura, which looks at the themes, works and figures of the 2021 Biennale architecture festival; Nastia Korkia’s docGes – 2, a visual reflection upon the project by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to renovate a former power plant in the centre of Moscow; and finally, Antonello Sarno’s Pietro Il Grande, a tribute to photojournalist Pietro Coccia, who died in 2018.
- 8/16/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
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