Year: 2002
Format: 35 mm
Runtime: 1 hr 14 min (74 min)
Portrait of a traditional youth dance group from Grozny, Chechnya, on tour in Europe. Images of daily life in ruined Grozny combined with poetic visuals of performances. The art of survival.
The creation of art within the rubble of war is the focus of this moving Dutch documentary on a children's dance troupe from strife-torn Chechnya. Bombed-out streets and the ruins of homes were the children's training grounds, with dances practiced underneath fighter jets and sniper fire, but a summer tour of Europe finds them in a different world of ornate concert halls and applauding crowds. "Remember, you represent Chechnya," their leader stresses to his young charges (some all of six years old), underlining the troupe's importance as cultural ambassadors to audiences more used to images of Chechens as violent terrorists than as twirling, costumed dancers. "We are not exterminated yet," he declares later, a statement that captures his troupe's other role: to use their artistry to give hope and resilience to a culture now under threat of both political and literal extermination.
Awards:
Best Documentary Award, Chicago Int. Doc Festival, 2003
Best Documentary Award, Festival ‘Message to man’ St. Petersburg, 2003
Miglior Lungometraggio (best film) Cinemambiente Torino, 2003
Copenhagen Dox Award, (best film), Copenhagen, 2003
Best film at Festival des films sur l’art, Montreal, 2004
Best film Music and Arts Documentaryfestival, Rome, 2005
Mention spéciale du jury, Nyon,
Special mention Tribeca filmfestival.
Festivals:
Selected in European Docuzone: release in 175 theatres
Other festivals: IDFA, IFFRotterdam, London, Praag, Durham, New York-Tribeca Filmfestival, Hotdocs-Toronto, Munchen, Marseille, Seoul, Montreal, Vancouver, Tokyo, Bombay, Sheffield, Washington, Chicago, Berkeley.
Sales: Idéale Audience, Paris
Written & directed by Jos de Putter
Director of photography: Vladas Naudzius
2nd camera: Masha Novikova
Edited by Stefan Kamp
Sound recording: Tom D’Angremond
Original music by Vincent van Warmerdam
Sound design: Michel Schöpping
Produced by Frank van den Engel
Copyright 2002 Zeppers Film / IKON
