HollyShorts / Rhode Island International Film Festival 2019 – Mum's Hairpins
Jewish shtetl, Ukraine, 1941. A box with mother’s hairpins – the only thing left from his family – is Yasha’s last chance to escape German invaders and rescue his new friend, a wounded goat kid.
Interview with Director Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Watch Mum's Hairpins here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
When I was a young child, my grandfather Yasha (Jacob Fedorovsky) recounted the fascinating story of his escape from Radomyshl, a small Jewish shtetl in Ukraine that was under German occupation in 1941. A small box containing his mother's hairpins, the only thing that remained from his family, helped him and his new friend – a wounded goat – to escape death.
I have wanted to tell this story to my audience ever since I began my career as a filmmaker.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I do hope you will find my story touching. Besides for the thrilling action, you may enjoy watching a unique environment of a Jewish shtetl - our artists tried their best to re-construct an authentic atmosphere of these times.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
This is a true story of my Grandfather. And everything happens during the Second World War, the greatest human catastrophe of all times. A touching friendship of a boy and a kid goat is shown against the brutality of war and the Holocaust.
Last but not least: our film is a co-production of Russia, Ukraine and Germany. Such a co-operation is nowadays quite rare because of the complex political situation.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Max and I have written the script quite promptly, and, surprisingly, there were no amendments made during the pre-production period and shooting. All my initial ideas were successfully implemented by our shooting team. After a long search, we succeeded in finding a location that has remained unchanged since the 1940s: The small village of Kudrichi in South-Western Belarus, near the Ukrainian border. Much like Radomshyl, all the Jewish inhabitants of Kudrichi were exterminated during the summer of 1941, and just a few abandoned wooden houses remained. Our artists spent a week creating props using local materials, as well as artefacts, that were lent to us by the Russian Museum of Jewish History. As a result, the film appeared exactly as I initially planned.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I am very happy to see my film being selected by several prestigious festivals, including Academy Award-qualifying ones.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
This is a challenge for me to compete with the world's leading filmmakers.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I am sure every filmmaker wants his product to have a big audience - as big as possible. And so do I, also with the help of your platform.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone, who may help Mum's Hairpins being seen by a larger audience.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The Second World War, and the atrocities associated with the Holocaust, in particular, make for an extremely sensitive topic. Numerous films are made about it every year and, let's face it, some of them exploit these topics, as well as other acute social themes such as domestic violence, refugees, disability, etc. to speculate on the audience's emotions and to ensure their acceptance by festivals and cinema critics.
In Mum’s Hairpins, I tried to avoid direct scenes of violence, brutality, and human suffering. The entire story is seen through the naïve perception of my protagonist, a ten-year-old boy, Yasha, who, together with his friend is trying to survive this hopeless situation. Everything that happened to them over those twenty-four hours is condensed into a short movie.
I hope my indirect way of telling the story would not dim such a serious topic I tried to elucidate in my film.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Why make another movie about the war and suffering?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thank you for your interest!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am working on my debut full-length film White Whale based on my own script. I was lucky to receive the First Prize for the Best International Screenplay at the 36th Rhode Island Festival last year.
At the moment, we are in the middle of pre-production, hoping to start shooting in October/November this year.
Interview: August 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
Mum's Hairpins
Jewish shtetl, Ukraine, 1941. A box with mother’s hairpins – the only thing left from his family – is Yasha’s last chance to escape German invaders and rescue his new friend, a wounded goat kid.
Length: 19:40
Director: Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Producer: Rustem Samigullin (Germany) Taras Stadnikov (Ukraine), Olga Akatyeva (Russia)
Writer: Max Dankevich and Tatiana Fedorovskaya
About the writer, director and producer:
TATIANA FEDOROVSKAYA (39) lives in Moscow, Russia. Graduated from Higher Courses for Screenplay Writers and Film Directors, Moscow, Russia (2017). Her short films have won several Grand-Prix at prestigious international festivals; two of them were nominated as The Best Short of 2017 and 2018 by the Russian Film Academy.
MAX DANKEVICH (43) lives in Kiev, Ukraine. Graduated from Kiev Institute of Theatric Arts (Cinema Faculty).
Key cast: Yakov Belorusov
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors
Facebook: Mum’s Hairpins; Tatiana Fedorovskaya
Twitter: @TataFedorovskay
Instagram: @tatafedorovskaya
Hashtags used: #mumshairpins
Other: IMDb
Funders: Self-funded
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? 08-AUG-2019 Flickers Rhode Island IFF / Prodivence, RI; 12-AUG-2019 HollyShorts IFF / Hollywood, CA; 19-SEP-2019 DC Shorts IFF / Washington, DC; 23-SEP-2019 In the Palace IFF / Varna, Bulgaria.