| Director: | Peter Kerekes |
|---|---|
| Production: | Punkchart films (Ivan Ostrochovský), Radio and Television of Slovakia (Ivana Kurincová), Endorfilm (Jiří Konečný), Arthouse Traffic (Denis Ivanov), Peter Kerekes, Hypermarket Film (Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda) |
| Running Time: | 93’ |
| Language: | Russian, Ukrainian |
| Country: | Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Ukraine |
| Main Cast: | Maryna Klimova, Iryna Kiryazeva, Lyubov Vasylyna |
| Screenplay: | Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes |
| Cinematographer: | Martin Kollar |
| Editor: | Martin Piga, Thomas Ernst |
| Costume Designer: | Katarína Hollá |
| Music: | Lucia Chuťková |
| Sound: | Tobiáš Potočny |
| Visual Effects: | Róbert Baxa |
Cinema
Cenzorka (107 Mothers)
Orizzonti
Synopsis
Lesya has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odessa’s women’s correctional facilities. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, women of all ages, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant women, and women with children. If not for the colour of the uniform, it would sometimes be hard to tell who is who.
Director’s Statement
From among the many stories of the women in Colony 74, I was most inspired by that of a woman who murdered her husband out of jealousy and arrived in the prison pregnant with her child. We spent several years in an actual prison with actual convicts, trying to get close to them and film them not as passive objects, but rather as participating subjects. Seeing as most of the prisoners were awaiting conditional release, or they could at any time be transferred to a different facility, I decided to cast a professional actress to portray Lesya, knowing I could not risk losing my protagonist. Maryna was present during all the preparatory interviews and spent much time with the convicts. I didn’t want her to mimic their behaviour—I wanted her to listen to them and try to understand them.
I also wanted the film to deliver an authentic collective testimony of the convicted mothers, not only through their conversations with Iryna but also through the silent scenes—the loneliness they feel when their children are taken away and they despairingly finish their birthday cake; the flashes of happiness when the women briefly forget they’re in prison. Visually, these scenes are treated almost like a photograph—a memory of a moment independent of space and time.
Producers/Distributors
PRODUCTION 1: Ivan Ostrochovský - Punkchart films
Špitálska 20
81108 – Bratislava, Slovakia
ivan@punkchart.sk
http://www.punkchart.sk
PRODUCTION 2: Ivana Kurincová - Radio And Television of Slovakia
Mlynská dolina
84545 – Bratislava, Slovakia
Tel. +421 260611111
ivana.kurincova@rtvs.sk
http://www.rtvs.sk
PRODUCTION 3: Jiří Konečný – Endorfilm
Přímětická 4
14000 – Prague 4, Czech Republic
Tel.+ 420 241 730 780
Mob. +420 602 358 373
jiri@endorfilm.cz
http://endorfilm.cz/
PRODUCTION 4: Denis Ivanov - Arthouse Traffic
Shchekavitska Street, Building 30/39, Entrance 11, Office 212
04071 – Kyiv, Ukraine
Tel. +38 044 503 7860
producer@arthousetraffic.com
https://arthousetraffic.com/
PRODUCTION 5: Peter Kerekes – Peter Kerekes Vištuk 277
900 85 – Vištuk, Slovakia
kerekesfilm@gmail.com
PRODUCTION 6: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda – Hypermarket Film Křemencova 178/10
110 00 – Prague 1, Czech Republic
email@hypermarketfilm.cz
http://www.hypermarketfilm.cz
WORLD SALES: Jean-Christophe Simon – Films Boutique
Köpenicker Str. 184
10997 – Berlin, Germany
Tel. +49 3069537850
contact@filmsboutique.com
https://filmsboutique.com/
https://www.facebook.com/filmsboutique
PRESS OFFICE: Paul Ockelford, Susan Coombs, Simon Bell – PREMIER
2-4 Bucknall Street WC2H 8LA – London, United Kingdom
Tel. +44 207 292 5073
Mob. +44 7904855 604
107mothers@premiercomms.com
www.premiercomms.com
