Last year finding a bundle of gems during the online Glasgow Film Festival,I was intrigued to learn that this year the Edinburgh Film Festival is doing a mix of in person,and online screenings, which led to me going to meet Zemlia.
View on the film:
Breaking away from recording Masha's last year at school with in-character interviews, debut co-editor(with Nikon Romanchenko) writer/director Kateryna Gornostai & cinematographer Oleksandr Roshchyn superbly blur the line between documentary and fictional feature film maker, thanks to igniting a hangout atmosphere.
Gornostai criss-crosses from a disco lights-lit wonderfully understated high school prom dance sequence,to delicate, documentary-style close-ups on Masha taking the first step out of the safety net of being surrounded by her friends Yana and Senia (played by the terrific trio of Maria Fedorchenko, Arsenii Markov and Yana Isaienko, all of whom come from a non-professional acting background, which helps to give the friendship of the trio a naturalistic quality.)
Placing the emphasizes on exploring Masha's coming of age in hanging out with pals and self-discovery in her first real attempt for a romantic life, the screenplay by Gornostai dances to the documentary/hangout beat of the directing, as Masha battles her internal introverted mind-set whilst attempting to catch the loving eye of the more aloof Sasha,that is threaded by playful,driven by fluid hand held camera moves into extended set-pieces getting up close-close to Masha and her two best friends,as they stop Zemlia.
View on the film:
Breaking away from recording Masha's last year at school with in-character interviews, debut co-editor(with Nikon Romanchenko) writer/director Kateryna Gornostai & cinematographer Oleksandr Roshchyn superbly blur the line between documentary and fictional feature film maker, thanks to igniting a hangout atmosphere.
Gornostai criss-crosses from a disco lights-lit wonderfully understated high school prom dance sequence,to delicate, documentary-style close-ups on Masha taking the first step out of the safety net of being surrounded by her friends Yana and Senia (played by the terrific trio of Maria Fedorchenko, Arsenii Markov and Yana Isaienko, all of whom come from a non-professional acting background, which helps to give the friendship of the trio a naturalistic quality.)
Placing the emphasizes on exploring Masha's coming of age in hanging out with pals and self-discovery in her first real attempt for a romantic life, the screenplay by Gornostai dances to the documentary/hangout beat of the directing, as Masha battles her internal introverted mind-set whilst attempting to catch the loving eye of the more aloof Sasha,that is threaded by playful,driven by fluid hand held camera moves into extended set-pieces getting up close-close to Masha and her two best friends,as they stop Zemlia.