«Echo of the Festival» Program
ECHO of the FESTIVAL, the after-festival special program, presents the laureates-2021 of the 14th RUSDOCFILMFEST. Ten winners and awardees of the 14th Independent Documentary Film Festival in New York are in the ONLINE theater from November 5 to November 14, 2021.
Tickets price $12
In the Caucasus region, on the border where Europe meets the Middle East, is one of Earth’s oldest nations. The Georgian people are heirs to an ancient tradition of religious singing. This film is a journey to that fabulous country, a story about Georgia’s exquisite Orthodox Christian chants. Scholars say, "the best that people have dedicated to God are the Georgian chants.” They are precious gems in mankind’s musical heritage. The film features the finest performances, bringing the audience into contact with the spiritual heights of the Georgian people.
Filipp Orlyansky was born in Sochi, Russia, and is working on a documentary series titled 'Angelic Chants', which is dedicated to ancient church chants of different countries.
A great pianist and composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) escaped from Soviet Russia in the 1920s and found a new life in the USA. This is the first comprehensive biography of Rachmaninoff created by American filmmakers. Featuring commentary and performances by today's most respected pianists, this is a story of overcoming hardship and eventual redemption through the power of music.
Peter Rosen has produced and directed over 100 full-length films and TV programs that have won awards at major film festivals.
Serge Hollerbach was one of New York City's most celebrated artists, a key member of the National Institute of Design, and the recipient of prestigious American and European awards. Although he was blind at the time of filming, Serge creates two paintings separated in time by a four-year period during which he has visibly aged and his eyesight has deteriorated. While painting, he discusses art and analyzes his long 95-year journey through life.
A’Dora Phillips (co-director and co-producer) runs the Vision & Art Project, a non-profit initiative funded by the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) that documents the lives and work of artists with vision loss.
Brian Schumacher (co-director and co-producer) is a practicing artist and educator. He is also creative director of The Vision & Art Project.
When the Covid-19 pandemic reached Russia in spring 2020 the government imposed a strict lockdown on its population of elderly. Millions were stranded in their flats, some living without immediate family and kin, and also lacking access to medication and even food. A municipal helpline was established for those seeking assistance in this dire situation. This film allows us to listen to some of the hundreds of phone calls received each day by the helpline. These conversations give rare insight into the anxieties of those who grew up in the USSR, and who have been largely left to fend for themselves since the fall of communism.
Tatiana Chistova is a Russian director and screenwriter, born in St. Petersburg. Graduated from St. Petersburg University (Philological department, Master’s degree). Worked as assistant director in Lenfilm production studio. As 1-AD worked with world-famous Russian directors as Alexander Sokurov, Sergey Bodrov, Alexey Balabanov. Later graduated from Higher Courses for Film Directors in Moscow (the department of directing of feature and documentary movies) and started to write and direct her own films.
Maciek Hamela is a filmmaker and producer of documentary and fiction films and cofounder of Impakt Film a Warsaw-based production house specialized in arthouse cinema and international co-productions.
How does one come to terms with a world that has displayed ferocious evil over the past century, especially when one has personally witnessed such horrors? This film is the unusual story of a Jewish woman, a Holocaust survivor, who, as a child during the Nazi occupation of Odessa (Ukraine), found herself in a ghetto and then a death camp. She survived, however, thanks to an incredible and miraculous confluence of circumstances. By telling the true story of this woman’s fate, the film shows the importance of not losing our historical memory, not forgetting the terrible and tragic past, and yet still knowing that the world is full of good.
Natalya Bernadskaya is a film director, scriptwriter, editor and co-author of “Sdelano v NY” online TV-project. She came to the U.S. in the 1990s and lives in New York.
Production: Joe Berlinger, Eric Esrailian, Dave O'Connor. Music: Serj Tankian
Decades before the Holocaust happened, the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire were the first to face systematic extermination by a modern government. In 1915-16 the Turks slaughtered an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as part of their jihad, but this tragedy is still not a part of history curriculums. Still, the memories of this mass murder remain vivid for the descendants of victims. Using Terry George's 2016 historical romance, The Promise, as a leitmotif, Oscar-nominated director Joe Berlinger takes a deep look at this tragedy. This includes on-set filming and interviews with the cast and crew of The Promise, as well as interviews with professors, journalists, and filmmakers, as well as archive footage from victims’ descendants. The film is part of a special festival program dedicated to all victims of the Armenian genocide in 1915-16.
Awards: Emmy nominee for Outstanding Historical Documentary
Joseph Berlinger is a two-time Emmy-winning filmmaker who focuses on true crime documentaries. His films and docu-series draw attention to social justice issues.
Creative producers: Igor Sadreev, Alexander Urzhanov
Executive Producers: Rodion Сhереl, Anya Shinkaretskaya
Vladislav Listyev was a leading figure for the Russian TV in Perestroika. Twenty-five years have passed since the murder of Vladislav Listyev, but the perpetrators of the most high-profile contract murder in Russia in the mid-1990s haven’t been found. Director Rodion Chepel decided to conduct his own investigation. He wants to know the name of the person who ordered the killing. He made dozens of interviews with colleagues, friends, and relatives of Listyev, as well as with investigators on the case. Everyone answers the main question: who killed Vlad Listyev?
Rodion Chеpel is a leading Russian journalist and reporter, famous as one of the creators of the series of programs "This is a Real Story."
Political protest culture in Putin’s Russia has spawned a new form of intellectual and social identity. Moscow street protests in the summer of 2019 were caused by the exclusion of independent candidates from elections to the Moscow City Duma. While protestors were brutally dispersed by riot police, the protests inspired many despite the arrests and criminal cases against activists. In the end, these detentions and injustices mobilized new forces of solidarity among human rights defenders and ordinary activist citizens, especially young people. Supporting political prisoners is now fashionable. But for how long?
Konstantin Davydkin graduated from the Higher Courses for Script Writers and Directors. Since 2003 he has authored and directed many documentary films.
Spring 2020 - the Covid-19 pandemic has New York City in its grip. Not a soul on the streets and no traffic in Midtown Manhattan, except for the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles taking the ill to hospitals. Parks, theaters, malls, offices, subway trains and city buses — all of them empty. When people go outside to buy food, there’s mandatory mask-wearing. The death rate is on the rise. After the initial shock, however, the city begins to fight back. Nurses and doctors from around the country come here to help, businesses begin food delivery programs, and slowly life returns to normalcy. Eventually, parks are busy with music and entertainment. The city is back. Life has returned.
Semyon Pinkhasov is a film director focused on the problems of individuality in the face of totalitarianism and tyranny. He is the winner of the 12th RUSDOCFILMFEST – Humanitarian award “In recognition of the special contributions into preserving and developing humanitarian values made by a person, a film project, or a film”.
He was the moral conscience of a captive nation, the most visible symbol of resistance to the Soviet regime. Creator of the hydrogen bomb, Andrei Sakharov was Russia’s most famous fighter for human rights and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. He lived under six Soviet rulers and hoped he could influence their decisions, but along the way he influenced society. On May 21, 2021, the world-famous scientist would have turned 100. The documentary film by TEFI award winner Elena Yakovich tells about the difficult fate and incredible strength of Sakharov’s spirit, and how his legacy lives on.
Elena Yakovich is a film director, and a creator of documentaries about Joseph Brodsky, Sergey Dovlatov, Victor Nekrasov, Vasilii Aksenov, Ernst Neizvestny, and others.
