- year : 2022
- country : Russia
- timing : 47:58'
- genre : documentary
- producer : Kirsten Gainet
written by Kirsten Gainet, Natalia Blok
produced by Marat Akhmetshin
DoP Mikhail Belov
music by Vladislav Savvateev
editor Kirsten Gainet
Andrey and Mikhail got their first glimpse of modern dance in the 1990’s in the Russian city of Ufa. Both men dedicated their lives to this artform. Both speak the language of dance, expressing the essential themes of love and tragedy. Together, we will experience the story of a performance that they are preparing together.
- International Film Festival "Northern Character", Special Prize (2022, Russia, Murmansk)
- In Love With Art International Film Festival, Audience Award (2022, Russia, Saint-Petersburg)
- Moscow Patriotic Media Festival "Motherland in the Heart" (2022, Russia, Moscow)
Director’s statement
The protagonists of the film, Andrey and Mikhail, are working as choreographers. They’re producing a special performance with the metaphorical name Crumbs. They are faced with the task of staging a performance in one of the parks in Ufa. Through observing the working process of preparing a performance, we immerse ourselves in the history of the development of modern dance in Ufa. As a documentary filmmaker, it was interesting for me to watch the creation of their performance. Through the dialogues and monologues of the characters, I realized that this film is not only about modern dance, this film is about art, life, self-sacrifice for the sake of art, about nostalgia, loneliness and about a country in which the protagonists discovered the world of modern dance for themselves, but did not receive the attention and support that they deserved.
For me, this film is an image of our homeland, the Republic of Bashkortostan and our country - Russia - as a whole. In the ruins of an empire, after the collapse of the USSR, in the 1990’s, a new direction of choreography manifested itself, a direction of dance that came from the West, where it was first brought to life back in the 1960’s. In a promising, yet emerging country, we encounter the founders of modern choreography in Ufa - Mikhail and his student/disciple Andrey. They opened this new form of dance to Bashkortostan’s capital, collecting bit by bit the previous knowledge and passing on their experience to their students. But the film is not about that at all. History remains merely a background for us. It was important for me, as the director, to show a paint of the artist and the audience, a portrait of an idea and opportunities it brings, and also to figuratively show the pathways of the country's cultural and social development. The performance titled Crumbs is a metaphor. The protagonists of the film began their development from Crumbs, when they were still young, ambitious and famous, when - during the Perestroika, during the economic and cultural crisis - the audience had something to surprise. And now, in a period of globalization and an overabundance of information, their art does not find either fans or support, they are left thrown ashore by the sea, literally beached, and are trying again to reclaim interest in their work from the crumbs that remain. Performance is basically life that has its beginning and its end, it is action that takes place in a certain place at a certain time. “Performance is needed first and foremost by the artist,” says Andrey, the protagonist of our film. Indeed, any artform is a need, experienced first and foremost by the artists themselves. Artists create art because it is vital for them to create, to bring ideas and images to life. The only question is, does the audience need it as well?
ABOUT THE FILM DIRECTOR:
Kirsten Gainet is a director, screenwriter, and producer of the Аҡ Kosh documentary film studio. Member of the Filmmakers' Union of the Russian Federation and the Guild of Non-fiction Filmmakers. She was born on 12.09.1989 in Inzer village, Republic of Bashkortostan (Russia). In 2015 she graduated from St.Petersburg State University of Film and Television (faculty of photography arts) and St.Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts (faculty of cinema/photography arts). She is a photo editor, laureate and participant of Russian photo contests and exhibitions. More than that, Kirsten Gainet is the participant and award winner of prestigious international and Russian film festivals.
FILMOGRAPHY:
2022 - "Performance", documentary
2022 - "Tomorrow comes yesterday", documentary
2019 - "Wife", documentary
2018 - "The Sorrow of Our House", documentary
2017 - "7 maidens’ theatre", documentary
2015 - "Live, soldier, live", documentary / debut
