Three movies filmed by children from Kstovo submitted to leading international film festivals

7 october 2021

The first season of Kinomolodost, a free educational project for children and teenagers in Kstovo, has come to an end. Under the guidance of their professional mentors, the students produced five short films based on their own scripts over the three-months-long training period. Three of them were selected to be submitted to various international film festivals including New York Int'l Children's Film Festival, International Children's Film Festival India, The Golden Elephant, Billy The Kid Film Festival, Sunny Island, Children’s Peter KiT, Festival de Cannes, and others.

The goal of the project, implemented by MEM.MEDIA and SIBUR as part of the latter’s social investment program Formula for Good Deeds, was to find and develop new talents in the city. The project helps children, including those living in orphanages, to master the much sought-after skills of creating video content, obtain recognition, and prove themselves through their creativity.

Kinomolodost was launched in the city three months ago when 32 participants who had passed a thorough pre-selection process started to receive training in directing, screenwriting and camerawork. They were taught by the film industry’s professionals specializing in a variety of fields.

All in all, the students made five short films spanning a variety of genres, from comedies to a psychological thriller. The cast included actors Denis Dorokhov and Stas Yarushin, as well as the program’s participants per se. Three of the films thus produced were recommended to enter in the programs of federal and international film festivals. The project’s jury included co-founders of MEM.MEDIA Taimuraz Badziev, producer of Kholop, Russia's highest-grossing film, David Tsallayev, creative producer at Comedy Club, Andrey Chertkov, Head of Local Government at Kstovo Municipal District, and representatives of SIBUR.

The films’ private screenings took place on October 3 at the "Dreams’ Empire. Delight" Film Theater. All films received various awards from the project’s organizers in several categories. The students received prerecorded video greetings from the film industry’s notable figures including Klim Shipenko, Aglaya Tarasova, Azamat Musagaliev, Elena Valyushkina, and Andrey Gaidulyan.

As a producer, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the children's work: all the films surpassed my expectations, Taimuraz Badziev, producer of Kholop and founder of MEM.MEDIA, noted. The most positive thing is that the children did it all on their own. This reinforced our decision to send several films to international children's film festivals. We are sure of their impending success. We would like to thank SIBUR’s team for being so passionate and enthusiastic about such an interesting and challenging project and for daring to help make it happen.

I was pleasantly surprised by the level of cinema demonstrated by our local Kstovo youths, Sergey Nazarov, General Director of SIBUR-Kstovo, noted. All the films are very profound and filled with an inner purpose. I recently attended the premiere of a Hollywood movie. Compared to it, the pictures made by the children left a much more profound impression. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a whole school of young Kstovo cinematography. And even if cinema does not become the kids’ vocation, their participation in the Kinomolodost project will definitely give an impetus to developing their creative abilities.

I would like to thank the project for supporting us and giving us a chance to enter the world of cinema. Not everyone gets such a chance, and I think the participants were extremely lucky, Karina Sysoeva (Karina May), an actress with Casting, commented.

It was extremely interesting. This is a unique experience that probably can't be compared to anything else. I'm glad I got a chance to work with great people! Vladislav Borodayev (Denis Edson), director of the Brown Hotel short film, shared.