Germany, UK, Denmark
Synopsis
A documentary by Victor Kossakowsky. Produced by Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions GmbH, Aconite Productions Ltd. and Danish Documentary. In co-production with Louverture Films and RBB in association with arte, Cactus World Films, Rio Negro Produccione and Ánorâk Film. Supported by Mitteldeutscher Medienförderung, Creative Scotland, British Film Institute, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, DFFF, Danish Film Institute, The Government of Greenland. Developement supported by Eurimages, Sundance Documentary Fund and Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund.
Director's Statement
I returned to that village 25 years later to shoot my film, BELOVY, which is about the people who live at the source of the river. The first episode was exactly as Mikhail had described to me: I put my camera into a little boat and I made an almost 1,000 km journey from that village to the sea. For this river scene I used a song from one of Raj Kapoor’s films. I had chosen this song, without knowing Hindi, simply because of its powerful energy, which fit well with my river episode. A few years later, and after a screening in India, some people told me that the song is about a river that flows like our lives.
Then, in the year 2000, while editing my film, I LOVED YOU, at Bornholm Island, I stayed in a house with a window looking out on the Baltic Sea. I noticed that the sea was different every day, every hour, even every minute. I was never bored because the water was never the same. I thought that if I could just film the waves from my window during a whole year, I could easily make a great film, without saying a word and without moving the camera, just watching the water changing! Different colours, different movements, different energies … through the natural lens of water you would be able to experience and feel the ebb and flow of all known human emotions — anger, aggression, peacefulness, nobility, loneliness, jealousy … everything!
With AQUARELA, I wanted to film every possible emotion that can be experienced while interacting with water — beautiful emotions, along with unsettling emotions of ecstasy and inspiration, as well as destruction and human devastation.
Links / Reference
Aconite Productions
www.aconiteproductions.com/
DD—DANISH DOCUMENTARY
danishdocumentary.com/
LOUVERTURE FILMS
www.louverturefilms.com/
DISTRIBUTION Germany
NEUE VISIONEN
www.neuevisionen.de/de/filme/a...
en.majade.de/films/aquarela/
TRAILER
youtu.be/3xAIuDF25kE
PRESS:
www.hollywoodreporter.com/revi...
variety.com/2018/film/news/aqu...
variety.com/2018/film/news/son...
Director's Biography
He began his career in motion pictures in 1978 at the Leningrad Studio of Documentaries as assistant cameraman, assistant director and editor. He studied Screenwriting and Directing at Moscow HCSF from 1986 to 1988. In 1989 he directed his first feature LSEV and then in 1992 his most famous documentary, THE BELOVS. In 2011, Victor's ¡VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! was selected as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival.
In many of his films, as with AQUARELA, Victor has served simultaneously as director, editor, cinematographer and writer. He continues to serve as a teacher and mentor to aspiring filmmakers and documentarians globally.
Victor Kossakovsky was born in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad at the time) on 19 July 1961.
Filmography:
2018 - AQUARELA, doc.
2013 - DEMONSTRATION, doc.
2011 - LONG LIVE THE ANTIPODES!, doc.
2005 - SVYATO, doc.
2003 - RUSSIA FROM MY WINDOW, doc.
2003 - I LOVED YOU, doc.
2002 - HUSH, doc.
1999 - WEDNESDAY 07.19.61, short doc.
1998 - PAVEL I LYALA, doc.
1994 - THE BELOVS, doc.
Festivals
2020
LOLA@Berlinale — shortlisted for DEUTSCHER FILMPREIS DOKUMENTARFILM [German FilmAward]
shortlistied for — 92nd Academy Awards OSCAR®
2019
CPH:DOX Copenhagen, 34 DOK.fest Munich, 30 Int. Filmfest Emden Norderney
2018
75 FF Venice, 62 BFI London Film Festival, 14 Zurich FF, Viennale, 61 DOK Leipzig
Cast & Crew
Directed by: Victor Kossakovsky
Written by: Victor Kossakovsky, Aimara Reques
Produced by: Heino Deckert (MA.JA.DE Filmproductions), Aimara Reques (Aconite Productions Ltd. ), Sigrid Dyekjær (Danish Filmproductions)
Cinematography: Victor Kossakovsky, Ben Bernhard
Editing: Victor Kossakovsky, Molly Malene Stensgaard, Ainara Vera
Original Score: Eicca Toppinen
Sound: Alexander Dudarev