Queens World Film Festival / Visionär Film Festival / Grenzland-Filmtage Selb International Film Festival 2019 – Bad Bad Winter
After the passing of her grandmother, a businessman’s daughter goes back to her birthplace. After a little while, she receives the visit of her former classmates but their reunion takes an unexpected turn.
Interview with Director/Writer/Producer Olga Korotko
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
My country is a place of contrasts with a big gap between different social classes. We have a big number of very rich people and a big number of very poor. At the same time, we have almost no middle class. Of course, this creates many conflicts and problems in society - a belief in one's uniqueness, a preoccupation with power and success, a sense of entitlement, lack of empathy and the twin tendencies to exploit others among the rich and a sense of injustice among the poor. This is what I observe everyday living in Kazakhstan. I must talk about it, and since my language is cinema, I talk about it through my movies.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The first thing I want to say is that for me art is not a way to give some answers. With my film I am not deciding who is right and who is to blame, but I try to pose questions - How is the life of people who grew up on the borderline between the collapse of the old world (the Soviet Union) and the creation of a new one (independent Kazakhstan)? What is the idea of justice in the society where money and power replace the principles of morality? I recommend you to watch this movie if you are not looking for answers in cinema, but looking for food for thought.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
As I mentioned above, my film is about a conflict between different classes in society. I myself come from a very simple family, all members of my family are people of respected professions (my mother and grandmother are teachers, grandfather is a construction engineer), but at the same time, I saw how my family was always in need. While around us more and more mansions of deputies were built, my mother, a teacher by profession, did not know how to provide food for the family. It seemed to be unfair, and it seems unfair now, even when I myself am quite a financially successful person. Every time I walk down a street where a rich house of deputies is built next to poor houses of doctors and teachers, I think that I should talk about this problem from the screen.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I think the project has evolved with the participation of other people. Each team member – artistic director, cameraman, actors, sound engineer - contributed some very important detail to the project that made the film deeper. I am very grateful to my team for this.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I think that the deeper the film, the more controversial are the reviews. Only a simple, entertaining movie can be liked by everyone without exception. Art, however, must reign dispute. I am glad that there were people who compared my film with the works of the great Dostoevsky, but there were also those who considered the film to be completely incompetent. I think the fact that the reviews are different, means that I reached my goal and I gave a subject to discuss to my audience.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I think the reviews have shown that the points of view may be different. When there are 100 people in the screening room, they watch a hundred different films. The film is not created on the set or even on the screen, the film is created in the viewer's head. I am glad to discover other points of view on what I have created.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
This is a way for me to reach my audience, and my audience is the reason I make movies.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We’re looking for distribution right now. At the same time, I’m open to communicating with anybody interested in the film.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like my film to give the viewer something to think about. This I will consider the best result.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why is the main character crying in the last shot?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on a new script that is based on real events and speaks about problems in society.
Interview: March 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
Bad Bad Winter
After the passing of her grandmother, a businessman’s daughter goes back to her birthplace. After a little while, she receives the visit of her former classmates but their reunion takes an unexpected turn.
Length: 1:24:44
Director: Olga Korotko
Producer: Olga Korotko
Writer: Olga Korotko
About the writer, director and producer:
OLGA KORATKO started studying filmmaking with a course with arthouse director D. Omirbayev, in collaboration with whom she later created a films-research on the history of cinema titled Reverences, “Sisters” and others. In 2011 she was selected for Asian Film Academy and in 2013 she shot a short film Dove On The Roof which was selected to more than 20 film festivals. In 2016 she was selected to Berlinale Talents Campus. In 2017, she shot a documentary film in support of women’s rights, House of mothers, about a shelter for single mothers who were rejected by their families. In 2018 she finished her first feature film Bad Bad Winter which premiered at Cannes Film festival 2018 (Acid Cannes), and screened after at many festivals including Tirana Film festival, 42nd Internationale Grenzland-Filmtage and Jaipur International Film Festival 2019 where it received two awards: Welcome Regard for The 1st Feature Film and Green Rose Award for The Film which gives Global Message.
Key cast: Tolganay Talgat (Dinara), Zhalgas Zhangazin (Aibek), Marat Abishev (Marat), Nurgul Alpysbayeva (Aray), Tair Magzumov (Sandjar)
Looking for: distributors, sales agents, film festival directors, buyers, journalists
Facebook: Seven Rivers Cinema
Instagram: @olga_korotko
Hashtags used: #badbadwinter #bbw
Website: www.7riverscinema.com
Other: IMDb
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Queens World Film Festival - March 27, 8:00PM at Kaufman Astoria Studios Zukor Theater (Queens, NY); Visionär Film Festival - On the 4. 4. at 19:00 @ACUDkino, Berlin; 42th Grenzland-Filmtage Selb International Film Festival, April 25 - 28, 2019 Selb (Germany); Sehsüchte 48th International Student Film Festival | 24.04. – 28.04.2019 Postdam (Germnay)