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MICFF इंडिया
Mumbai International Cult Film Festival
MICFF WINNERS 2020
List of Winners in Best Film Categories
FILM OF THE FESTIVAL AWARD
(BEST SHORT FILM OF THE FESTIVAL)
Mum's Hairpins
Tatiana Fedorovskaya (Russia)
Directed by Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Jewish shtetl, Ukraine, 1941. A box with mother’s hairpins – the only thing left from his family – is Yasha’s last chance to escape German invaders and rescue his new friend, a wounded goat kid.
Directed by Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Jewish shtetl, Ukraine, 1941. A box with mother’s hairpins – the only thing left from his family – is Yasha’s last chance to escape German invaders and rescue his new friend, a wounded goat kid.
Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Graduated from the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors, Moscow.
Short film "Mum's Hairpins":
MICFF INDIA 2020 : 'Film Of The Festival',Best Director,Best International Short','Best Cinematography,Best Actor In Lead Role,
Director Statement:
(Mum's Hairpins)
When I was a young child, my grandfather Yasha (Jacob Fedorovsky) recounted the fascinating story of his escape from Radomyshl, a small Jewish shtetl in Ukraine that was under German occupation in 1941. A small box containing his mother's hairpins, the only thing that remained from his family, helped him and his new friend – a wounded goat – to escape death.
I have wanted to tell this story to my audience ever since I began my career as a filmmaker.
The Second World War, and the atrocities associated to the Holocaust in particular, make for an extremely sensitive topic. Numerous films are made about it every year and, lets face it, some of them exploit these topics, as well as other acute social themes such as domestic violence, refugees, disability, to ensure their acceptance by festivals and cinema critics.
In my "Mum's Hairpins", I tried to avoid direct scenes of violence, brutality, and human suffering. The entire story is seen through the naive perception of my protagonist, a ten-year-old boy, Yasha, who, together with his friend is trying to survive this hopeless situation.
Everything that happened to them over those twenty-four hours is condensed into a short movie.
We endeavoured to create an authentic environment, within which the actors could perform. After a long search, we succeeded in finding a location that has remained unchanged since the 1940s: The small village of Kudrichi in South-Western Belarus, near the Ukrainien border. Much like Radomshyl, all the Jewish inhabitants of Kudrichi were exterminated during the summer of 1941, and just a few abandoned wooden houses remained. Our artists spent a week creating props using local materials, as well as artefacts, that were lent to us by the Russian Museum of Jewish History. An old recording of the Yiddish lullaby "Schlof sche mean vogele" (Sleep Well My Little Bird) was used as the principal musical theme. Rather than use a professional composer, as I had initially intended, I decided to use fragments of Mahler's and Rachmaninov's symphonies. Surprisingly, casting was the easiest part of pre-production. I posted an announcement on my Facebook page asking for a 10-year old red haired boy to play the lead role and within half an hour I received a video by the perfect candidate, whom I approved as my leader character. Coincidentally, he too, is named Yasha.
Short film "Mum's Hairpins":
MICFF INDIA 2020 : 'Film Of The Festival',Best Director,Best International Short','Best Cinematography,Best Actor In Lead Role,
Director Statement:
(Mum's Hairpins)
When I was a young child, my grandfather Yasha (Jacob Fedorovsky) recounted the fascinating story of his escape from Radomyshl, a small Jewish shtetl in Ukraine that was under German occupation in 1941. A small box containing his mother's hairpins, the only thing that remained from his family, helped him and his new friend – a wounded goat – to escape death.
I have wanted to tell this story to my audience ever since I began my career as a filmmaker.
The Second World War, and the atrocities associated to the Holocaust in particular, make for an extremely sensitive topic. Numerous films are made about it every year and, lets face it, some of them exploit these topics, as well as other acute social themes such as domestic violence, refugees, disability, to ensure their acceptance by festivals and cinema critics.
In my "Mum's Hairpins", I tried to avoid direct scenes of violence, brutality, and human suffering. The entire story is seen through the naive perception of my protagonist, a ten-year-old boy, Yasha, who, together with his friend is trying to survive this hopeless situation.
Everything that happened to them over those twenty-four hours is condensed into a short movie.
We endeavoured to create an authentic environment, within which the actors could perform. After a long search, we succeeded in finding a location that has remained unchanged since the 1940s: The small village of Kudrichi in South-Western Belarus, near the Ukrainien border. Much like Radomshyl, all the Jewish inhabitants of Kudrichi were exterminated during the summer of 1941, and just a few abandoned wooden houses remained. Our artists spent a week creating props using local materials, as well as artefacts, that were lent to us by the Russian Museum of Jewish History. An old recording of the Yiddish lullaby "Schlof sche mean vogele" (Sleep Well My Little Bird) was used as the principal musical theme. Rather than use a professional composer, as I had initially intended, I decided to use fragments of Mahler's and Rachmaninov's symphonies. Surprisingly, casting was the easiest part of pre-production. I posted an announcement on my Facebook page asking for a 10-year old red haired boy to play the lead role and within half an hour I received a video by the perfect candidate, whom I approved as my leader character. Coincidentally, he too, is named Yasha.