Projects of the Observers of the Artdocfest / Riga Pitch 2020
Nameless
Israel
Director Alexandra Rahmilevich

2014 The Revolution of Dignity is raging on the main square of Kyiv for the third month. Three young men from different parts of the former Soviet Union find themselves in the thick of things. The living thread sews the destinies of the heroes into a parable about Human Freedom.
2020 The fate of the guys was tragic, the perpetrators were not punished, the names were not named. Nameless heroes of the undeclared war die every day ...

Along the river
Russia / Shmelkin Production
Director Fedor Shmelkin

This is a film about ecological disaster, that has been going on already for 70 years. It tells the stories of ordinary village people living in the Chelyabinsk region along the Techa River, where liquid radioactive waste has been flowing for many years. Completely abandoned and useless, these people are fighting for their daily existence, overcoming inhuman living conditions.

Hydroelectric Joy
Russia
Director / producer Alexander Markov

The love affair between the engineer Vadim and the biologist Vera is under threat when the construction of a gigantic dam in Egypt separates the pair. Vadim hopes to return with the keys to a Volga automobile, but along the way his amateur camera captures the deaths of friends, showdowns with management, the slave labor of the Egyptians and the helplessness of ordinary people before an industrial giant.

The Case
Russia / the Marina Razbezhkina School of Documentary Film
Director Nina Guseva, Producer Marina Razbezhkina

Courageous and daring lawyer Maria Eysmont comes face to face with the corrupted judicial system of Russia while fighting for freedom of young political activist Konstantin Kotov in the aftermath of opposition protests of 2019.

Demiurge
Ukraine / Film company "Metropolis"
Director Olga Semak, Producer Elena Semak, creative producer Alexander Techinsky

It is a tragicomedy about the life of a small rural amateur theater in Volhynia and its director, a famous Ukrainian theatre and movie actor Petrо Panchuk. The actor from the capital, in search of overcoming his personal crisis, returns to his native village to create a theater together with his fellow villagers and prove to himself what he is capable of.

Road to my school
Tajikistan
Director Daler Imomali

In most mountain villages in Central Asia, schoolchildren find it difficult to get to school. Snow-covered roads full of water and hot mountain sun. But despite all this, they go to school and enjoy their studies.

Buried and forgotten
Russia
Director Konstantin Selin, Producer Semyon Lebin

Young artist Dmitry Poshtarenko is looking for the remains of soldiers who disappeared during the World War II. Using the soldiers’ name tag, he identifies the deceased, finds their relatives. Then he creates a 3D model of the dead soldier using gypsum and makeup. There are already hundreds reborn people filled the military museums throughout the country. With their name being regained, the soldiers are now captured by the state again.

Ichtiander-66
Russia
Director Alexander Sinitsa, Bulat Sharipov

In 1966 a group of amateur engineers from Ukraine launched the grassroots undersea research lab, which was the first in the USSR history. For the next few years they conducted unique independent studies of man living in the underwater environment. “Ichtiander” inspired a wave of underwater researches across the USSR, but drew the attention of the authorities as well. Soon the project was shut down, together with many other grassroots organizations formed during “the Thaw” in the 60s.

Kostya Pitersky
Russia
Director Evgeniy Sushchev

This is a story about a living legend, a soldier of fortune, a “berserker” hero - Konstantin Masalyov. A natural-born soldier. A fighter of the most formidable and merciless division of the First Chechen War, known as “ the berserker platoon”. This is a film about a deadly drug named war, about post-war life and PTSD. About love for Russia. And about the bizarre, sometimes cruel way Russia loves her soldiers back.

Krymnash
Uzbekistan
Director Umida Akhmedova, Alex Ulko, Producer Timur Karpov

The film focuses on different aspects of history and everyday life of Crimean Tartars in Uzbekistan, who were deported from the Crimea to Central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Nazis in May 1944. Every single Crimean Tartar in Central Asia has the history of cruel deportation in her family: the loss of property, of home, of freedom, of dignity. This traumatic episode has been documented, discussed and analysed many times and we seek to avoid replicating the same narrative. Instead, we are focusing on the experience of those Crimean Tartars who have stayed in Uzbekistan and we have chosen to tell these stories through the eyes of women.

Dreamer
Azerbaijani / Free Art
Director Imam Jabirowich Hasanow, Producer Maria Ibrahimova

Mamed is the coach of the female football team in Sheki. His goal is to raise the girls to be talented and successful football players. In Sheki, and not only, girls are also forced to marry at 15 they don't even have educational rights. These traditions sadly are relevant till now causing problems for the girls. The only thing that gives them a feeling of freedom is football. Mamed fights this battle with his wife Svetlana. 

 

Mimino vs Mafia
Russia / Passenger Film Studio
Director Svetlana Stasenko, Producer Lisa Antonova

A driver Alex Chernyshov was killed last summer. A well-known Siberian opposition leader, Vadim Ostapov, was accused of this murder. He faces life imprisonment, although not a single expert examination confirms his guilt. Whether Vadim is really guilty, or the authorities decided to get rid of the popular opposition leader in such a terrible way, we intend to find out in our film.

At the bottom
Russia
Director Tamara Kubaeva

Each year a group of volunteer divers organizes several expeditions to collect garbage from the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul. They collide with numerous problems in their activity. But, driven by a love of nature, they continue to fight for the cleanliness of the lake. So that the younger generation of scuba divers dives only out of sport or scientific interest, and not as underwater cleaners.

At the bottom of St. Petersburg wells
Russia, Belarus / KINOGVARDIA
Director / producer Igor Gladkov

Igor and Sergey live on the streets of St. Petersburg. Residents of nearby houses do not like this company, so a conflict occurs. But this does not scare the homeless - they again arrange showdowns or drunken gatherings under the windows. Soon Igor learns about the death of his father. He goes to his native village to ask forgiveness at the grave. Sergei continues to live in an abandoned house. Soon Igor runs away from his parental home and wanders around in the Republic of Belarus.

Push The Button
Russia, Spain, Germany
Director / producer Polina Karagergi

Alexander gave everything for the "Autobahn" club. In 2006, authorities shut down his life’s business. But during this time, a new generation of musicians keep promoting the club's ideas, and techno becomes a new classic. Today rave is recognized as part of modern art all over the world, but in Russia it is still controversial. Clubs and festivals are still being closed down, with no regard for the people whose life is techno.

 

Unprotected defenders
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Director Elyor Nematov, Producer Timur Karpov

Hazing in the army is a widespread problem throughout the post-Soviet space, but in Tajikistan this problem has become widespread, with a systemic violation of human rights. Violence at all levels, left over from the Civil War, mortality and disability, during service the highest in all of Central Asia. The authorities are turning a blind eye to this. Families are doing everything to protect their sons from the army, most often they leave to work in Russia or neighboring countries.

Memory
Russia / MIMESIS
Director Vladlena Sandu, Producer Yanna Buryak

In this autobiographical film Vladlena Sandu investigates her trauma, which she developed by living through, and surviving the war in Chechnya. Immersed in memories of those events, she also faces the experience of war, repression and the Soviet totalitarian regime that affected the lives of her family for generations. To heal from the trauma of her past, Vladlena must make sense of her family histories and reclaim her place in this story.

 

Monument for sale
Republic of Moldova / Niște Filme
Director Artiom Zavadovsky, Producer Ion Gnatiuc

On rare 16mm family footage Galina is in her 20s, works at the biggest industrial plant in Northern Moldova and travels with her friends. On her son’s digital footage she’s 72, lives alone and spends time in the widows’ community of her former coworkers. Together they hunt for supermarket sales, dine and fight for their independent life. Meanwhile, Galina must decide: to stay in Moldova or sell her home and move to her daughter in Russia?    

 

Say it with me
Ukraine
Director Liubov Durakova

Olya thought she did it. All in the past. But when she speaks with a psychologist, the pain smothers her. She is crying. She is sobbing. She is screaming. She cannot forgive herself for having lived fourteen years with her husband, who humiliated and beat her. At night, her son had nightmares. Olya is afraid of how she communicates with her son, that sometimes she can hit him. She is trying to cope with the pain and aggression in herself. She goes to yoga and dreams of creating a support group for women survivors of violence. She wants to build a new happy relationship, will she succeed?

Plai. The Path Through The Mountains
Ukraine / IQ Production
Director Eva Dzhishiashvili, Producer Oksana Ivanyuk

It’s easy for a foreigner to get lost in the mountains. As if, the clock stops there and every detail gets a whole new meaning. A special rhythm of existence, everyday life in harmony with yourself and your surroundings… Scenes of the family-life of Hanna and Dmytro, which are strung together, are intertwined into a story, which broadcasts a globally-humane experience of continuity.
 

 

Motherland
Russia, Kyrgyzstan
Director Tatyana Soboleva

Виталий и Виктор дружат всю жизнь. Они родились в 1936 году в Киргизской ССР, пережили голод во время второй мировой, окончили школу в год смерти Сталина, и уехали в центральную Россию строить коммунизм. Теперь им за восемьдесят. Система, которой они посвятили жизнь, развалилась, родина стала отдельной страной. Вдвоем они решаются на отчаянное путешествие в Кыргызстан, чтобы разыскать могилы родителей, и подвести итоги.

 

Do I love you, robot, do I?
Russia / Risk-Film LLC
Director Yuliya Kiseleva, Producer Olga Shaposhnikova, Yulia Kiseleva, Alena Akimova, Svetlana Bondareva

Anthropomorphic robots are increasingly being introduced into our lives: they meet us at the reception, educate children and even live in families as partners. Scientists are trying to make robots as human-like as possible. In the late 80s, scientists studying the emotional reaction of people to robots discovered the “uncanny valley effect”: the most humanoid robots caused dislike and even fear in people. But what will happen when they become indistinguishable from a person? And will they?

Serious people
Russia / Sad woodpecker
Director / producer Peter Starostin

This work is sketching, supervision from Courses Continuing education of top-level officials. Big bosses escaping from tall but stuffy rooms
authorities fight for a ball and felt-tip pens, like children in a kindergarten. They carry gingerbread cookies and compete for lollipops on coffee breaks. In a word, almost nothing gives out to them harsh representatives of power and power structures.

Border Man
Russia
Director Sergey Karandashov, Producer Ivan Bolotnikov

The film will tell about the historical experience of the development of the northern lands of Russia. The members of the expedition together with the crew on sailing vessels (in conditions as close as possible to those in which the legendary pioneers of the 17th century were) will pass along the river Lena from Ust-Kut to the village of Tiksi and further along the northern sea route, through the Bering Strait to the city of Anadyr. The task is to show the uniqueness of the peoples living in these territories, their cultural code, to look beyond the existing boundaries (borders in all senses of the word).

I/WE are ice under the cop's feet
Russia
Director Kirill Nenashev

Фильм рассказывает про Протесты в Москве 2019 – 2020 годов, начавшиеся с не допуска независимых кандидатов на выборы. Жестокие задержания, политические заключенные, суды, обязательные работы в ЖКХ, обнуление сроков Путина, изменение Конституции, задержания даже за одиночный пикет - и все это на фоне мировой пандемии и празднования 9 мая.Что ждет молодых ребят, журналистов и независимых политиков, которые присоединились к бесконечному российскому протесту?