High Falls Film Festival - God does exist, or Where Do Babies Come From
USSR, 1990s. Two little school girls are about to be accepted into The Pioneers. And exactly then they found the Kama-Sutra and realized that grownups lied to them about where babies come from. But Soviet Pioneer are honest people! And so the girls decide to act.
Interview with Director/Producer Guzel Sultanova
Congratulations! Why are you making your film?
This story is based on real events. My friend and writer of this film have experienced this and she told me. I found this story funny, on the one hand, and on the other hand, I saw in it the opportunity to tell about what our generation felt at that period oi our country and what it had to face later.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you want to laugh and at the same time to understand how young generations felt in the USSR's crash-period and touch another culture, in particular Russia, you should watch my film.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
In this film I share my child experience about the change of times in our country and, I suppose, feelings about it from my generation. I see several universal meanings in this story. The first. It is adults, who teach us that honesty is a relative concept, at the same as any ideology. The second. We do not always understand what we are asking for from God and do not always realize the consequences of our requests. Perhaps, behind a positive momentary decision of some of our utilitarian personal tasks, the non-positive consequences of a more ambitious nature may unfold. Third. What we call positive and correct changes on a large-scale political level is always connected with the personal tragedies and pains of specific small people for whom life changes, the conditions change, the foundations and rules of existence collapse. No wonder in our country my generation is called lost.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We had a completely thought out and finished script, and worked in accordance with it. We did not succeed in some of the artistic part and some of the meanings in connection with this went away, but the story did not suffer fundamentally from this.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I must say that my peers in my country are very sensitive to this story, it concerns each of them, apparently my feelings from the fall of all that which, in many respects, resonates with their feelings. First moment they laugh, then they think. And this is for me most valuable. The fact that people are beginning to rethink their experience after watching my film.
And for me it is very valuable that my message is interesting not only in my country. This means that people in other countries also tend to think not by the ideology and point of view imposed on them, but they are trying to get a new view of things.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Honestly, I did not expect that some viewers, mostly older generation, were negative about the inclusion of the chronicle at the end of the film. They prefer to watch the story only as an anecdote that has occurred to the little girls, and do not want to see the tragedy that will happen to these girls next.
But for me this change of genre is like an accurate transfer of my sensations of that time. Perestroika came and another movie started! (
And it must be noted that I do not try to talk about politics in this film and give some ideological assessment to what happened, NO! I'm just trying to share my feelings with the audience.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope that this will draw attention to my film from a simple audience and a professional audience too.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All))) I want to share my film and my feelings with the most spread out audience. And everyone who can help me is welcome!)
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Perhaps my film will prompt the viewer to sometimes look at global historical changes from the point of view of the inverted world of a little girl. The theme of the little man in our literature was raised by Pushkin, later developed by Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov. I also want the world not to forget about simple people in pursuit of a global "bright future".
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Would you like to be born and be a child in an era of change?
Would you like to add anything else?
I’m glad to be a woman and to be a film director!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Now I'm finishing a short film for children about adventures, transformations, miracles and friendships.
Interview: November 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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God does exist, or Where Do Babies Come From
USSR, 1990s. Two little school girls are about to be accepted into The Pioneers. And exactly then they found the Kama-Sutra and realized that grownups lied to them about where babies come from. But Soviet Pioneer are honest people! And so the girls decide to act.
Length: 10 min.
Director: Guzel Sultanova
Producer: Guzel Sultanova
Writer: Olessya Eliseyeva
About the writer, director and producer: Director and producer Guzel Sultanova was born in 1973 in the USSR, in Tatarstan. She has two diplomas of higher education – sociologist and film director. Since 2005 she has been working in the film industry as a director, 2nd unit director and line producer.
Writer Olessya Eliseyeva, was born in 1982 in the USSR, in the Ukraine. Education: Philology and Screenwriting. Our film is her first realized script for short film.
Key cast: Yuliya Sules, as Principal
Xenia Petrukhina, as Olya Oreshkina
Yana Gornaya, as Nadya Ulyanova
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
All) Producers for me as a film director to future works, and other - sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists - for my film.