Budding directors fast-track to the screen
Published 04 September, 2008, 07:41
There is nothing like a journey with your friends, especially if the train you’re travelling on is not an ordinary train. Young documentary makers are setting out on a 10,000 km journey into the unknown. Crossing Russia, they'll make six short documentaries, which when combined will produce a full-length film about the country.
It all started in the 30s when Soviet director Aleksandr Medvedkin came up with the idea of having a special “cinema-train” travelling across Russia and filming documentaries on the spot. The train called Soyuz-kino had production laboratories and even a screening room. All post-production was done on the train and the satirical propaganda films were produced immediately and shown at train stations to representatives of the working class.
More than 120 people applied to participate and six groups have been chosen. Each group has to produce a six-minute documentary. They are free to choose the topic.
John Krebbs, for example, wants to do something about fast food.
“In Russia McDonalds and other western brands are really booming, really going up and in the rest of the world they are really falling down.”
Most of the participants have never been to Russia before and don't have much knowledge about the country. To them it's not just the film that counts, but an opportunity to learn more about the enigmatic and fascinating country they'll be travelling across.
“Russia… I didn’t know it's such a big country before this project. I thought it's like Turkey. But then I found it reaches until the Pacific Ocean. And so I decided it's a good chance to go,” says Frank Tolios, a budding documentary maker.
It takes two full weeks to cross Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok. The trans-Siberian express will stop among other places in Ekaterinburg, in a small station next to Lake Baikal and in the Buddhist capital of Russia, Ulan-Ude.
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