Official Selection - Competition 2009 / Volčok / Russia 2009
From the very start of the film it’s clear that, for Mother, the birth of Daughter is an unwelcome burden, and that’s how it’ll always be. Until, one day, when it’s too late, Mother realizes that she has not only ruined her own life, but her daughter’s as well. Despite his young age, Vassily Sigarev has written 18 stage plays, one of which, Plasticine, was performed in Prague’s DISK theatre five years ago. His film debut, based on his own play, demonstrates that Sigarev is well able to convey his own, distinctive style to the big screen just as effectively as he has done for the stage. Wolfy recently took the top award at the Kinotavr festival of Russian films in Sochi.
The opening scene of the film lets us know that the baby girl just being born is unwelcome. The cries of the laboring woman are more about anger than pain, and nothing would lead us to believe that she is looking forward to her little girl. That’s how things remain between Mother and Daughter, and that’s why they remain nameless. Their life together constitutes Mother’s constant flights into the arms of men whom she leads into the one room in the house, where the grandmother at least provides the child with a minimum of care. Daughter soon understands who Mother is, and although she condemns her, she can’t live without her. The vicious cycle of their wasted lives is reminiscent of a spinning top (a ‘wolf’ in Russian), the one toy in Daughter’s life, the one thing which connects her to Mother. Vassily Sigarev, whose feature debut is an adaptation of his own theater play, has set this harrowing story of indifference in a timeless space that, moreover, lacks a concrete physical location. "In my plays, I try never to say ‘this is what it’s about.’ Let viewers decide for themselves. I just hope that the story tells them something new about love and its absence, about evil – and about their own souls.”
86 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Vassily Sigarev
/ Screenplay Vasilij Sigarev / Vassily Sigarev
/ Dir. of Photography Alexej Arsenťjev / Alexey Arsentiev
/ Editor Daša Danilova / Dasha Danilova
/ Producer Roman Borisevič / Roman Borisevich, Ruben Dišdišjan / Ruben Dishdishyan
/ Production Koktebel Film Company
/ Cast Jana Trojanova / Yana Troyanova, Polina Plutček / Polina Plutchek, Veronika Lysakova
/ Contact Koktebel Film Company
Vassily Sigarev (b. 1977, Central Urals, Russia) studied education before taking courses in dramaturgy from Nikolay Kolyada. He drew international attention in 2002 when his play Plasticine was staged at London’s Royal Court Theatre. The play was a great success and Sigarev took the Charles Wintour Prize for Most Promising Playwright. Since 2003 he has written 18 plays that have been staged at many theaters in Russia and abroad, including in the Czech Republic (Plasticine played at Prague’s DISK theater in 2004 and Sigarev came for the performance). He transformed his play Wolfy into his feature directorial debut, and the film took the top award at the 2009 Kinotavr festival of Russian films in Sochi.
Koktebel Film Company
Druzhinnikovskaya 15, Film Center, 123242, Moscow
Russia
Phone: +7 495 984 2098, +79 268 210 812
Fax: +7 495 708 8051
E-mail: [email protected]
Roman Borisevich
Producer, Producer
Vassily Sigarev
Film Director
Yana Troyanova
Actress
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