Prague-based sales agent Filmotor has acquired world rights for two debuts directed by female directors focusing on life in contemporary Russia; Tolyatti Adrift, directed by Laura Sisteró and produced by Barcelona based production Boogaloo Films, and Nastia Korkia’s GES-2 (Venice 2021) which follows one of the biggest art reconstructions of our age, unfolding in Moscow.
Tolyatti Adrift is directed by Laura Sisteró and produced by Barcelona-based production Boogaloo Films, whose Magaluf Ghost Town won the Golden Alexander Award for Best Documentary at Thessaloniki 2021. Sisteró shot the film entirely in the Russian town of Tolyatti – once a symbol of Russia´s socialist pride for its production of Lada cars. The town is considered a Russian Detroit, with huge youth unemployment rates. In this hopeless environment, the director follows a movement that rescues iconic old Lada cars from the local factory to turn them into a symbol of rebellion that reflects the conflicts and dreams of the youth.
A co-production between Boogaloo and French production house Les Films d’Ici, the debut feature already has 3 broadcasters on board: TV3 Catalonia, France Televisions and Radio Canada. Tolyatti Adrift was successfully pitched at forums and labs such as Spanish Screenings during Malaga Festival, DOK Leipzig, FIPA and IDFA.
Filmotor’s second new acquisition is GES-2, which premiered in Venice Special Screenings in September. In her debut Nastia Korkia follows one of the biggest art reconstructions of the age, unfolding in Moscow. The synopsis reads how, in 2014, V–A–C Foundation (owner – the richest Russian oligarch Leonid Mikhelson) acquired the 20,000 square metre former power plant GES-2 in the centre of Moscow right in front of the Kremlin, tasking the Renzo Piano Building Workshop with its transformation into a cultural institution. Over the next five years, the cameras follows the construction work alongside the cultural initiatives of the Foundation. In the film, these events are interlaced in an unconventional and non-chronological order.
Michaela Cajkova, head of Filmotor comments on the two films: “I immediately fell in love with the light style in portraying Tolyatti in Laura Sisteró´s debut. The music and great camera will bring a beautiful cinema experience making this film an audience pleaser with a promising festival career.”
“GES 2 is a bold debut in its cinematic language – totally ignoring the chronology of events,” Cajkova adds. “However the audience would still get a comprehensive image of the very costly and courageous art reconstruction just a few meters from the Kremlin under the supervision of Renzo Piano, famous for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The Moscow centre was just opened in December with President Putin in attendance.”
“We believe in the great cinema potential of both films and are sure of fantastic strong festival runs,” Cajkova ends.
