2024

2024 PROGRAM

Vanya Is Alive

By Natalia Lizorkina

The play was written in Moscow immediately after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Playwright tells the story of a mother of a captured Russian soldier who tries to break through state propaganda and lies in a totalitarian state. Reflecting the real political situation in the country, the play's text explores the cost of political and physical freedom and raises the question of personal responsibility within the system

Nataliya Lizorkina is a Russian playwright and screenwriter, since 2022 she is based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Last year her most famous play "Vanya is Alive" participated in the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Ivanka Polchenko. Laureate of the International playwriting competition Eurodram 2024, has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Finnish and Georgian, and was published by the Auditoria publishing house in Tbilisi. The play was included in the collections of the oldest German publishing house Rowohlt, the French collection Samizdat, and the Russian collection Freedom letters. Currently, Lizorkina is the art director of the independent dramaturgy festival Lubimovka.

2024 PROGRAM

Bardo Thodol or Grandma, You’re Dead!

The story, like many of my texts, originated from a dream. However, the dream was quite different: in it, an aunt in a South Asian family had passed away but continued living with them as a ghost. Without her pension and income, the family found themselves in a difficult situation and ended up selling her to European tourists. Upon waking, I wondered how such a story would unfold with a dead grandmother in an ordinary Russian family. The result was a more existential plot.

This is a story about the collision of an ordinary person with something unusual. The growing grandmother is a metaphor for the feeling of guilt that everyone has experienced. At the same time, it's more of a universal text rather than a response to a specific topical issue since the reasons for feeling guilty are timeless here. I hope I managed to strike a balance between fear and humor.

By Nika Velt

2024 PROGRAM

High Water

By Dasha Slyusarenko

A mysterious journey of two ordinary men from a small Russian town to Moscow in pursuit of their dream, which leads them into unexpected adventures.

She was born in St. Petersburg and graduated from the screenwriting course at the Moscow School of New Cinema. She worked for several years as a screenwriter for Russian TV series and films, as well as a playwright at Teatr.doc. Later, she attended the Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov School of Documentary Film and Theater, where she created the documentary film "Joy" and the documentary series "Silk Road." Currently, she works as a documentary film director and screenwriter.

2024 PROGRAM

Women in the Dark

By Irina Serebryakova & Masha Denisova

This is a documentary text based on the testimonies of women living in Kyiv. Due to constant missile strikes, the city frequently loses electricity, phone service, internet, water, and heating. My colleague and I tell the story of the war through the lens of how civilians, especially women, live on the home front.

The text carries a comedic tone because it was important for us to show that we don't seek pity. We also explore the role that basic amenities of civilization play in the life of the city. Many of these things are taken for granted: elevators and trolleybuses keep running, and water flows from the tap. But what happens to a city when electricity is gone, even for just one day?

2024 PROGRAM

Saint Mary

Premiere 2024 · By Natalia Lizorkina

The main character of the play Saint Mary is a simple girl working as a barista in a coffee shop. She encounters an unusual visitor who introduces himself as God and asks her to bear his child. The playwright modernizes the biblical story, infusing it with irony and layers of meaning. Mary is portrayed not just as a passive figure fulfilling someone else’s will but as an independent agent resisting the imposed obligation to bear a child. As the story unfolds, the audience is left questioning whether God truly appeared to her or if this is a manifestation of her psyche, protecting her from a traumatic event. The play serves as a dialogue with both the audience and society, tackling a provocative and sensitive issue — under what circumstances a woman has the right to an abortion.

2024 PROGRAM

Documentary Film Program

Monument — Maksim Avdeev

The Second Life of Wafaa — Ekaterina Pavlova

Self-Portrait with Lev — Alexandra Simonova

Become a Bird — Michelle Dalgatov

2024 PROGRAM

Once Upon a Mine

SHORT FILM PROGRAM

ONCE UPON A MINE

Desperate to escape from his home village which has been overtaken by the war in Donbas, a young man deals with numerous obstacles, following his dream. The last obstacle, however, can take his life. A story about a war inside of each person, a mine that many Ukrainians stepped on, and being afraid to accept change.

Directed by: Vofka Solovéy Written by: Alex Gavrilenko, Vofka Solovéy Produced by: Vofka Solovéy, Nazar Bonka

2024 PROGRAM

Off Hollywood: The Undocumented Journey of Hope

SHORT FILM PROGRAM

OFF HOLLYWOOD: The Undocumented Journey of Hope

This short drama straddles two kinds of iconic narratives. One is an archetypal "L.A. story," where beautiful dreamers struggle to find their place and success in the sunny but sometimes indifferent ecosystem of Hollywood. The other is the story of immigrants eking out lives in tenuous circumstances, summoning all their resilience and ingenuity to meet their challenges. Here, they're combined beautifully in a short that's both clear-eyed about Misha's difficulties and inspiring in his ability to keep going, despite all of it.

Directed By: Tatyana Kim Written By: Tatyana Kim & Anatoliy O Produced By: Tatyana Kim, Anatoliy O, Julia Kostenevich

2024 PROGRAM

Avako

SHORT FILM PROGRAM

“AVAKO"

It's the 2000s. Anya is thirteen and left home alone for the first time, under the supervision of her neighbor, the punk Ars, with whom she's long been in love. Anya persuades Ars to take her to his youth group with the mysterious name 'Avaco,' hoping to spend the whole night with them and finally win Ars's attention.

Directed By: Ksenia Pchelintseva Written By: Ksenia Pchelintseva, Andrey Garyazh Produced By: Ksenia Pchelintseva, Anna-Maria Telambutse