EUREKA MEDIA'S DOCUMENTARY ONCE AGAIN IN LOCARNO
A documentary film by Aleksnader Gutman "17th of August", produced by Eureka Media, has been qualified for the contest of the Film Critique Week during the 62nd Film Festival in Locarno. The world premiere is scheduled for 12 August.
The films tells a story of a one day from the life of a Russian prisoner, sentenced for triple murder and doing his time in a severe prison, located on an island between Wologoda and Archangielsk. The prison used to be a 17th century monastery. The camera watches not only the prisoner's chores. It concentrates on his incessant reflections what he had managed to do before comitting his crime, and what he had not done. The film also shows his prayers and coversations with God, and reminiscing about events which used to seem quite ordinary, but now they seem distant and unreal.
The film’s producers are Aleksander Gutman and Krzysztof Kopczyński. The documentary was made within the frame of coproduction by Atelier-Film Alexandr (Sankt Petersburg), Eureka Media(Warsaw) and the Polish Television (TVP Channel 1). It was financed by: YLEISRADIO(Finland), Documentary Film Studio in Sankt Petersburgh, Russian Culture and Art Fund of the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture.
The Film Critique Week's award is the only one awarded for documentary film during the Film Festival in Locarno, one of the most important festivals of the world. In 2008 the award was given to the director Beata Dzianowicz and the producer Krzysztof Kopczyński for the film "Kites".