main crew

Directors and scriptwriters: Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski

DoP: Piotr Rosołowski

Editor: Karoline Schulz, Andrzej Dąbrowski

Sound: Marcin Lenarczyk, Tomasz Wieczorek

Music: Maciej Cieślak

Producer (Poland): Anna Wydra

Producers (Germany): Ann Carolin Renninger, Thomas Kufus

storyline

In Abkhazia, a war-torn country close to Crimea-Ukraine, patriotism runs rather deep. Perched on the shores of the Black Sea, the unrecognized splinter state used to be a beach getaway for lucky Soviets, but palatial hotels now sit in post-Communist ruin. For Abkhazian Sports Minister Rafael, however, everything's looking up. He's hopeful that the mysterious Domino World Championship he's organizing will finally put his beloved motherland on the world's radar and madly in love, he's willing to overlook that his dear wife is a foreigner. A proud Russian opera singer, Natasha gave up her home and custody of her Russian daughter to take a chance on a new life. But when locals won't warm to her and troubles cloud Rafael's "sports" event, their bright future and even national pride start to wobble. From the Oscar nominated team of "Rabbit à la Berlin" comes a visually stunning Black Sea black comedy - giving us a profound look at life under Russia's spell.

about the director

Director

Elwira Niewiera

lives and works in Berlin

Elwira Niewiera is a Polish director and researcher. Her feature documentary debut, "Bulgarian Stories" was presented at a number of international film festivals and had art-house cinema distribution in Germany. Elwira worked also as first assistant director and researcher on the Academy Award nominated documentary "Rabbit à la Berlin". Since 2008 she is Executive Director of the Polish-German cultural foundation Nowa Ameryka.

Director & cinematographer

Piotr Rosołowski

lives and works in Berlin and Warsaw

Graduated as a cinematographer from the Katowice Film School. Awarded with a scholarship of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Writer and director of the documentary "The Art of Disappearing" (premiere at Visions du Réel 2013, special mention at RIDM and Jihlava IFFF), co-author of "Rabbit à la Berlin" - Academy Award nominated short film documentary. Director of Photography of many awarded feature and short films, among them: "On the line" dir. Reto Caffi - Academy Award nominated short fiction and "Nowhere in Europe" dir. Kerstin Nickig - main prize at the Sarajevo Human Rights Film Festival. He was a participant of European Film Academy Master Class 2006, Ex Oriente Film 2005 and Documentary Campus 2007.

awards

Prize of the Interreligious Jury - Visions du Reel - Nyon, Switzerland, 2014

GOLDEN HORN for the Director of the Best Film - International Competition - Krakow Film Festival - Krakow, Poland, 2014

THE AWARD OF THE POLISH SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS (PSC) for the best cinematography - International Competition - Krakow Film Festival - Krakow, Poland, 2014

GOLDEN HOBBY-HORSE for the Director of the Best Film - National Competition - Krakow Film Festival - Krakow, Poland, 2014

festivals & special screenings

Visions du Reel, Nyon, Switzerland - main competition

Hot Docs, Toronto, Canada - special programme 'Love Factually'

Krakow Film Festival - international documentary competition

financing

Produced by

Otter Films  & zero one film

in coproduction with

rbb

in association with ARTE

Funded by

Kuratorium junger deutscher Film,

Polish Film Institute,

Research Scholarships „Grenzgänger“ Robert Bosch Stiftung

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