Debut Russian film to compete at Rotterdam

The Hope Factory, the debut feature film of Natalia Meschaninova, is to compete in the prestigious Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at Rotterdam International Film Festival later this month. The film was chosen as one of The Calvert Journal’s top five Russian films to look out for in 2014.

The film follows a group of teenage in the grim city of Norilsk on the Arctic Sea, in particular Sveta, who dreams only of escaping her hometown.

Meshchaninova previously worked with Valeria Gai Germanika on School, a controversial television series about a Russian high school. She went on to train at Maria Razbezhkina’s documentary film school.

Speaking to The Calvert Journal in November, Meschaninova said: “I find it difficult to judge whether or not this is my own life story, but in a sense it is. It was very hard to get out of my own hometown, the languid southern city of Krasnodar. And, in some way I crushed many other people’s feelings by leaving, just like the protagonist Sveta.”

The Hivos Tiger Awards is Rotterdam’s main competition, aimed at giving up-and-coming talent a chance to shine at one of the world’s main film festivals. 15 features will compete in this year’s competition. The jury is headed by Palestinian film maker Elia Suleiman.