- year : 2022
- country : Russia
- timing : 68:22'
- genre : documentary
- producer : Evgeny Grigoriev
written by Evgeny Grigoriev
produced by Evgeny Grigoriev, Victoria Lupik
DoPs Artem Anisimov, Egor Myasnikov, Arkady Shapovalov, Kirill Kolotukhin, Alexander Sobenin, Andrey Vetoshkin, Kirill Dimov
music by Sergey Bobunets
sound by Evgeny Goryainov
editor Konstantin Larionov
production company: Pervoe Kino Film Company
This film tells about people whose hands create the main components of life on the planet every day. And it’s not just the material basis of our world made of metal, concrete or wood, but it’s also something that gives meaning to our lives, inspires and gives hope. The film's characters - a locksmith or fisherman, a steelworker and a farmer, a furniture maker and an anesthesiologist - are followed by the film's Director, who suddenly turns from an observer into a creator.
- Baikal International Film Festival «People and Environment» n.a. V.G. Rasputin (2022, Russia, Irkutsk)
- International Film Festival about the environment "Form of Life" (202, Russia, Perm)
- DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival (2022, Azerbaijan, Baku)
- International Film Festival "Northern Character", Diploma of the 1st Degree (2022, Russia, Murmansk)
- Moscow Patriotic Media Festival "Motherland in the Heart" (2022, Russia, Moscow)
- International festival of tourist films and TV programs "Date with Russia" (2022 Russia, Vologda)
- Radonezh International Festival of Films and TV programs, Special Jury Mention (2022, Russia, Moscow)
- Shanghai TV Festival (2023, China, Shanghai)
- Moscow International Design Festival (2023, Russia, Moscow)
- Nika Award, Long list (2024, Russia, Moscow)
Director’s statement
Hands is a documentary film, the literary basis of which lies in two works of Russian literature: The story of how one man fed two generals by M.Y. Saltykov-Shchedrin and N.A. Nekrasov’s Who Lives Well in Russia.
The heroes of the film are people of a rare breed – an almost lost, but priceless species. There is a special idiom in the Russian language for that kind of people: the "salt of the earth". Their life today hardly finds its reflection in the media, their professions are not considered prestigious, and their work is not respected. But it is they who create the main components of life on the planet. Every day they mine ore and fish, make steel and cook lunches, lay pipelines and fiber-optic lines, build helicopters and housing. This film is about people who, by virtue of their profession, can show us at the end of their working day a tangible result of their labor - a piece of ore, an engine turbine, an iron sheet, a handful of wheat or a can of oil. But they create not only the material basis of our world from metal, concrete or wood, but also what gives our life meaning, what inspires and gives us hope.
Various documentary filmmakers chose their characters and, using unique cinematic methods and styles, “looked” into their faces to see our future, to understand the world of these rare people: how they live, what occupies their thoughts, how they draw in people around them, what they laugh about and what they grieve about. After all, it is these people who determine the mood, strength and energy of our country.
ABOUT THE FILM DIRECTOR:
Evgeny Grigoriev is a film Director, Producer, Author of more than 10 documentaries, was born on 17.03.1979 in Russia. He is the Vice-President of the Russian Documentary Guild, and founder of the Pervoe Kino Film Company. In 2001 graduated from the USU, Department of Journalism, in 2005 - VGIK (the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography), Directing Department, in 2013 - School of the Theatrical Leader, in 2014 - Moscow Art Theatre School, Directing Department.
FILMOGRAPHY:
2022 - «Crafted», documentary
2021 - «Deadline», documentary
2021 - «The Riot», full-length film
2019 - «Chronicles», documentary
2018 - «Cogan. Taste of freedom», documentary
2017 - «ProRock», documentary
2016 - «Across the Don», documentary
2014 - «Waiting for Barbarians», documentary
2012 - «The Battle for Ukraine», documentary
2007 - «And you, Brutus ...», documentary
2006 - «The Will. Alexander Zinoviev», documentary
2005 - «The Will. Fedor Uglov», documentary
2004 - «The Will. Heinrich Ivanitsky», documentary
2003 - «Blacksmiths of their own happiness», documentary
2001 - «Lekha online», documentary
