ATTRACTION

year : 2022
country : UK, France, Kazakhstan, Russia
timing : 15:00'
genre : fiction film

written, directed and produced by Radik Kudoyarov
DoP Vadim Poteyev
music by Sergey Beltyukov
sound by Sergey Shunkevich
editor Nikolay Shavel
production designer Andrey Golubev
cast: Pavel Harlanchuk-Yuzhakov, Oleg Weber, Andrey Golubev, Svyatoslav Astramovich
production company: RITE PRODUCTIONS

This film is a memoriam of the British military and their volunteer Dutch colleagues - the first victims on the paratroopers’ wall in Mauthausen. Their story is almost forgotten and was never filmed or screened.

Festival del Cinema di Cefalù (2022, Italy, Palermo)
Moscow International Film Festival (2022, Russia, Moscow)
International Film Festival «East&West. Classics and Avant Garde» (2022, Russia, Orenburg)
Radiant Angel International Charity Film Festival (2022, Russia, Moscow)
Arouca Film Festival, Audience Award (2022, Portugal, Arouca)
FILMETS Badalona Film Festival (2022, Spain, Badalona)
International Film Festival "Northern Character", Special Prize For the Best Male Role - Pavel Harlanchuk-Yuzhakov (2022, Russia, Murmansk)
Festival del Cinema di Castel Volturno (2022, Italy, Castel Volturno)
Asti International Film Festival (2022, Italy, Asti)
Radonezh International Festival of Films and TV programs (2022, Russia, Moscow)
International Human Rights Film Festival "Stalker" (2022, Russia, Moscow)
Volokolamsk frontier International Festival of Military-Patriotic Films (2022, Russia, Volokolamsk)
Golden Tower International Film Festival (2022, Russia, Ingushetia, Nazran)
Amarcort Film Festival (2022, Italy, Rimini)
Dieciminuti Film Festival (2023, Italy, Ceccano)
VICTORY DAY International Film Festival (2023, Russia, Moscow)
Russian Festival of Patriotic Cinema "Malaya Zemlya" (2023, Russia, Novorossiysk)
BJX Bajío International Film Festival (2023, Mexico, Guanajuato)
ALTER-NATIVE International Short Film Festival (2023, Romania, Targu-Mures)

Director’s statement

The plot is based on a true story: the “sophisticated” way of exterminating prisoners in the Mauthausen concentration camp. They were thrown from the so-called "rock of paratroopers" in the quarry. The first to die there in 1940 were British paratroopers and the Dutch volunteers who helped them. They were captured in Nazi-occupied Holland and became the first victims of this bloody "attraction". The guards and the administration of the camp enjoyed this “attraction” until the liberation of the camp in 1945.

Today we are witnessing a surge in cruelty, yet people are trying to psychologically defend themselves by "burying their heads in the sand” and believing that this does not concern them and will not ever affect them. But there is nowhere to hide. The unsolved problem will surely catch up. The story I am telling is addressed to just such people. Centuries pass, but the struggle between good and evil always remains the same. For me, war is a period when all our conventions simply dissolve, and the masks come off. And any person - a prisoner or his guard - strives to survive. This is life and death in its purest form. And all attempts to explain something, to justify things by saying “I was following the order” are ephemeral. That's what's important, that's what you want to understand and share with others. In this sense, cinematography is a perfect tool for creating reality.

ABOUT THE FILM DIRECTOR:

Radik Kudoyarov was born on 07.09.1973 in Ufa (Republic of Bashkortostan), Russia. He is a well-known independent Russian filmmaker, director and screenwriter. Studied history at Bashkir State University and was trained in television management at the University of California. In 2003 established his own film production company, RITE, and has produced and directed over 30 documentary films.

FILMOGRAPHY:

2022 - "Attraction", short film
2020 - "The Gift", short film / debut
2019 - "Appointed by Time", documentary
2015 - "Peace and Sport", documentary
2014 - "The General," documentary
2014 - "In the Heart of Mother Earth ...", documentary
2014 - "Kubota’s Kimonos, History on Silk", documentary
2011 - "Karim Hakimov. The Russian Lawrence of Arabia", documentary
2010 - "Charles De Gaulle. His Majesty the President", documentary
2010 - "The Reunification of Germany. In the Wings of a Triumph", documentary
2010 - "Normandy-Niemen. We flew in the same skies", documentary
2010 - "Unwritten Story. Polish Break", documentary
2009 - "The Berlin Wall. Trajectory of the Fall", documentary
2009 - "Evgeny Primakov. A Man from Life", documentary film
2009 - "The Secret of the Camp Badber", documentary
2009 - "Walter Stennes. A friend against Hitler", documentary
2007 - "Technology of the Modern Coup", documentary
2007 - "Rudolf Nureyev. Stolen Immortality", documentary
2005 - "Alibi for Paul McCartney", documentary
2005 - "Nuremberg. The Last Fight", documentary
2004 - "The Plot of the Century", documentary
2004 - "Superagent at NATO", documentary
2004 - "The Make-Up Artist. The Masking Professor", documentary
2003 - "The Myth of Rudolph", documentary
2003 - "The Black General", documentary