Car Washers

Colour, 35mm
Ukraine, 2001, 80 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

Kiev in the nineties, tainted by a serious economic collapse and rising crime. A group of kids boost the family budget by washing cars at a gas station whose proprietors make a living in a rather dodgy way. One day, they accuse the kids of stealing a cell phone but a rich woman prevents them from being punished. The kids don’t suspect that she’s the wife of a man connected to the mafia, nor that it will ultimately and tragically affect their fate. In the meantime, threatened by the police and the underworld, they move to an intersection. They soon get a taste for money and learn to cruelly eliminate the competition, especially the homeless. Like other kids on the street who live by begging and become addicted to drugs, the group is gradually transformed into an unscrupulous gang. Despite losing moral inhibitions and acknowledging false authority figures, these prematurely adult youngsters long for true love and never lose their sense of friendship and solidarity. The story is narrated by the 13-year-old protagonist who eventually discovers how much this society has affected him . . . . Volodimir Tichij (1970, Červonograd) vystudoval v rodném městě hornickou průmyslovku a posléze Filmovou a televizní fakultu v Kyjevě (1997). Během studií působil jako scenárista a režisér ve Studiu „Danapris Film“ a v televizní společnosti UTAR. Natočil videosnímek Underground (1992), poté krátké filmy Sokira (Sekera,1995), Kriša (Střecha, 1996), Rusalonka (Rusalka, 1996). Film Mijniki avtomobiliv (Umývači aut, 2001), který byl inspirován realitou, je jeho celovečerní debut.

About the director

Volodimir Tikhy (b. 1970, Chervonograd) graduated from a mining school and then from the Film and Television School in Kiev (1997). While at school he worked as a screenwriter and director for the Danapris Film Studio and UTAR Television. He has made the video movie Underground (1992), the short films The Axe (Sokira, 1995), Roof (Krisha, 1996) and The Water Nymph (Rusalonka, 1996). Car Washers (Mijniki avtomobiliv , 2001), a film inspired by true events, is his feature film debut.