Ivan BOLOTNIKOV
Иван БОЛОТНИКОВ
Ivan BOLOTNIKOV
Russia, 2020, 86mn 
fiction
Palmyra
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Пальмира

 

 Palmyra

 Palmira

 
Directed by : Ivan BOLOTNIKOV (Иван БОЛОТНИКОВ)
Writing credits : Ivan BOLOTNIKOV (Иван БОЛОТНИКОВ), Denis GUTSKO (Денис ГУЦКО), Konstantin LOPUSHANSKY (Константин ЛОПУШАНСКИЙ)
 
Cast
Geza MORCSANYI (Геза МОРЧАНИ) ...Arthur
Yekaterina KRAMARENKO (Екатерина КРАМАРЕНКО) ...Maryam
Daniela STOYANOVICH (Даниэла СТОЯНОВИЧ)
Darius GUMAUSKAS (Дариус ГУМАУСКАС) ...Ben Omar
 
Cinematography : Ayrat YAMILOV (Айрат ЯМИЛОВ)
Music : Andrey SIGLE (Андрей СИГЛЕ)
Produced by : Andrey SIGLE (Андрей СИГЛЕ)
Production : Proline Film Studios
Film revenue in Russia : 0.012134 million dollars
Spectators : 3 813
Release date in Russia : 11/03/2021
 
Site : IMDb

Awards :
First prize International Film and Immigration Festival, Oujda (Morocco), 2022
Best actor Geza MORCSANYI , International Film and Immigration Festival, Oujda (Morocco), 2022

Plot synopsis
Artur, a former military doctor, leads the quiet life of a widower in a mountain village in Dagestan. Artur learns that his only daughter Maryam has been recruited by a terrorist organization and sent to Syria. He uses every means possible to travel to Syria to meet his daughter. Since he was a former military doctor, he can go to any area doctors are needed. Through all kinds of trouble, he finally meets his daughter, finding out she has become a total stranger. He can no longer persuade his daughter, who has transformed into a terrorist. There comes a moment of choice for him. Should he save his daughter or abandon the monster she has turned into? The film seeks a way to overcome blind love by portraying a person who sacrifices himself for his loved one. Based on a true story. (NAM Dong-chul)
https://www.biff.kr/eng/
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Ivan Bolotnikov: Palmyra (Russia, 2021), Anthony ANEMONE, Kinokultura, 2021
 
Ivan, what drew you to the project?
Ivan Bolotnikov: The whole history of the human race is a history of wars. Today, it seems to us Europeans that disagreements should not be resolved by murder. While there is an illusion of well-being and harmony, the world today is being swept up into fanatical movements affecting civilized people. We are talking about a force that can destroy understanding between people, even those most cherished and loving.
Tell me the basics of the story
The plot of the film is simple, even antiquated. A father rushes to save his daughter Maryam. Intentionally or not (at beginning of the movie it is not clear), she’s found herself in the hand of pure evil of ISIS (a terrorist organization forbidden in the civilized world).
In the high mountain village of Dagestan the villagers attend morning prayers in the mosque. This village has a council of village elders, with children always playing on a nearby hill. The mountains are eternity there, making it look like nothing can destroy their way of life. But beyond this world there is a conflicting modernism barging into the village in the form of an anti-terrorist group looking for Maryam.
What determined your casting choices?
For the main role of Arthur I cast Geza Morcsanyi who is a translator of Russian literature from Hungary (and also a playwright and publisher who debuted as an actor in Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi’s “On Body and Soul” which won the Berlin Golden Bear). For the role of Maryam, Ekaterina Kramarenko an actress from St. Petersburg who is Russian-Greek. The role of the doctor Khalid is played by Lithuanian actor Daryus Gumauskas. I’m using this technique as a director because it’s important for me to show that the story is not just local, but widespread. Also, many of the actors are non professionals and the villagers of Kahabroso played themselves.
Andrey, I believe “Palmyra” had a long gestation. Can you tell me how the production was mounted and who financed it?
Andrey Sigle: Bearing in mind the wide geography of the film (Syria, Turkey, Dagestan, Russia) and, accordingly, the difficulties in organizing the shoot, two years of production is not so long. We had extensive negotiations with the Syrian company Shaghaf but unfortunately, they did not end up with anything because the difficult military situation in Syria did not give us a chance to do everything that we dreamed of. We planned to shoot approximately a half of the film there. However, after we had some discussions with our military in Syria and the Mukhabarat-local security service, they both convinced us that our international film crew, foreign actors, should not be put at risk. It reminded me of our work with Alexander Sokurov on the film “Alexandra” in the hectic time in the Chechen Republic. I had enough extreme situations. We filmed only several episodes in Syria. The main shooting took place in a mountain village in Dagestan.
What about the financing?
The bulk of our projects are supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, we are very grateful to them for this support. And this time, most of the production budget of ‘Palmyra’ was covered by a subsidy from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. As for private funds, we had only internal funds from the Proline Film studio.
What do you think the international appeal is for this film, especially in a post-pandemic world?
This film is not about the war. It is about the human destinies that the war breaks – a war with an animal face, with an animal grin of hatred, ignorance, religious fanaticism. We talk about the values of human life in the film. The main character of the film is a common doctor, an ordinary person, a father who goes to Syria to save his daughter. This is by no means a military operation – just the fate of the family in these terrible circumstances.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/ivan-bolotnikov-on-palmyra-in-which-a-russian-man-seeks-his-daughter-who-has-joined-terrorists-in-syria-1234632535/

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- War in contemporary Russian cinema, kinoglaz.fr (France), 2023
- International Film and Immigration Festival, Oujda (Morocco), 2022
- Rabat International Film Festival, Rabat (Morocco), 2022
- Russian Film Week in London, London (United Kingdom), 2021
- Busan International Film Festival : BIFF, Busan (Pusan) (Korea, South), 2020
- "Vyborg" Russian Film Festival (formerly ''A Window to Europe''), Vyborg (Russia), 2020