Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival went to a graduate of KBSU

Graduate of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov Kira Kovalenko won the Grand Prix of the Special Insight competition at the 74th International Cannes Film Festival for the film «Les poings desserres».

The events in the movie starts in a small mining town in North Ossetia, where the main character Zaur moved with his family after tragic events. He brings up sons and a daughter strictly, not knowing the boundaries between paternal care and overprotection. The eldest son Akim has already left for the nearest large city — Rostov — to work. The youngest, Dakko, has not yet fully realized what he wants from life, and the daughter Ada is actively making plans to escape from parental care. The plot, its embodiment evoked positive responses from viewers and film critics, for which the picture received a high prize.

Among the first who showed interest in the success of the graduate of the creative workshop Alexander Sokurov at KBSU was the information telegram portal «Scientific and Educational Policy», which shared information with us.

Kira Kovalenko was born in Nalchik. In 2015 she graduated from the director’s workshop of Alexander Sokurov at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov. «Unclenching Fists» is her second directorial work. Kovalenko’s debut film «Sofichka» based on the story of the same name by Fazil Iskander was shown in 2016 at the International Film Festival in Tallinn.

In the five difficult years that have passed since the graduation of the directing course, the students of director Alexander Sokurov have not been left to fend for themselves. Sokurov created a foundation that helped launch the first feature films for Kira Kovalenko, Kantemir Balagov, Alexander Zolotukhin and Vladimir Bitokov. The production of these films took place with the active participation of KBSU.

The film debuts of the alumni have become prize-winners of major all-Russian and international film festivals.

Producers began to hunt Sokurov’s students. Kantemir Balagov was invited to work in Hollywood. Currently, Lenfilm has completed the production of three more new full-length films by other graduates of this course — Oleg Khamokov, Tina Mastafova and Malika Musaeva.

In June 2015, during the presentation of the State Prize of the Russian Federation to Alexander Sokurov, Russian President Vladimir Putin especially noted his pedagogical activity: “Alexander Nikolayevich devotes a lot of time to working with young people, teaching them directing skills”.

«On behalf of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov, and on my own behalf, we sincerely congratulate Kira and, of course, her teacher Alexander Nikolaevich Sokurov on this new victory! It is even more gratifying that the achievement in this category was the first in the history of Russian cinema. Most of the film crews, actors, directors, scriptwriters, composers, artists are young people living in the Caucasus. They talk about themselves, about what they care about and want to be understood by people of other cultures. We are glad that Alexander Nikolaevich Sokurov does not lose ties with Kabardino-Balkaria and is proud that he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Kabardino-Balkaria University and his honorary professor» — commented on the telegram channel «Scientific and educational policy» Acting Rector of KBSU Yuri Altudov.

NOP also asked a few questions to the film director and screenwriter, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, member of the KBSU Board of Trustees Alexander Nikolaevich Sokurov about his workshop, which functioned at KBSU from 2011 to 2015.

— Having organized a workshop at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University, you were one of the first to support the development of creative industries in the regions. The creative economy has enormous potential right now. Do you think the industry needs government support and what kind?

The state will not be able to cover all aspects of cultural development. If the state can create from all the laws and regulations that will contribute to the development of private initiative in the field of culture, then this will probably be the most correct solution to many, many issues in the field of culture.

— Alexander Nikolaevich, the students of this workshop are about the same age, they can be called millennials. Do you think their work has a generational millennial trait? Can they be called the voice of a generation?

I don’t know, everyone in the field of cinema expresses his point of view, I believe, and not a general point of view — the point of view of the people. At least in our workshop, we directed all our efforts so that young people could formulate their point of view, present it to society. Therefore, it is somehow too Soviet — the voice of a generation, it is not at all necessary.

This is the voice of educated young people of our time, who will help their peoples, their communities and regions to understand the very difficult and complex problems that the peoples of Kabardino-Balkaria and other peoples face. Because only culture can answer a whole series of questions. In no other way, except by posing questions in the cultural field, it is impossible to answer very many, many questions. Only with the help of a national culture and a cultural instrument, I will say this.

According to the editorial board of the NOP, the victory of the young (31 years old) Russian director in Cannes should at least be a reason to draw attention to Kira Kovalenko of ideologists for the development of creative industries in Russia.

Source: information telegram-portal «Scientific and educational policy».