"You're human, aren't you?" "Nope." Film Movement has revealed the official US trailer for Bad Roads, a feature film based on a stage play originally presented in London at the Royal Court Theater. This was also Ukraine's submission to the 2022 Academy Awards, before the current war started up. Four short stories are set along the treacherous roads of Donbas during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of what is going on with all the uncertainty in the region. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge... Starring Zoya Baranovska, Maryna Klimova, Anna Zhuravska, Ihor Koltovskyy, & Andriy Lelyukh. This looks like an intense, very bleak set of stories about how...
- 5/13/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In the bleak omnibus film “Bad Roads,” four tension-filled tales set along the dangerous byways of Ukraine’s Donbass region during wartime illustrate survival strategies practiced by civilians. Although the various episodes don’t quite add up to a strong narrative whole, they do gain extra resonance from current events in this troubled region. Naturalistic in visual style and performance, they also introduce a new talent to watch in debuting writer-director Natalya Vorozhbit, better known as a playwright. The film, adapted from her earlier play, premiered in Critics’ Week of the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The Ukrainian Film Academy named the helmer “Discovery of the Year,” along with other kudos.
The four segments vary in length, with the first two each slightly over the 20-minute mark, the third — and most difficult to watch — clocking in at approximately 43 minutes, and the last, a tight 15 minutes. Each revolves around a fraught encounter that...
The four segments vary in length, with the first two each slightly over the 20-minute mark, the third — and most difficult to watch — clocking in at approximately 43 minutes, and the last, a tight 15 minutes. Each revolves around a fraught encounter that...
- 12/21/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Kerekes’s “107 Mothers,” a Slovak drama about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, won the Crystal Arrow Award at the 13th edition of Les Arcs European Film Festival.
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
- 12/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
New parents are always advised to treasure every moment of their child’s infancy, even through the sleepless nights and bawling meltdowns for it all passes in the blink of an eye. Most parents, of course, have other stages of child-rearing to look forward to. For the incarcerated young mothers at Ukraine’s Odessa women’s correctional facility, however, those early years of bonding might be all they get: Their newborns may remain in their care until their third birthday, upon which they must be transferred to another guardian or, in many cases, an orphanage. It is on this wrenching deadline that Slovakian docmaker Péter Kerekes balances the drama of “107 Mothers,” an unusual and rewarding docufiction feature woven from the firsthand stories of multiple Odessa prisoners, executed with a blend of close-to-the-bone realism and heightened formal refinement.
A worthy and distinctive pick as Slovakia’s international Oscar submission, “107 Mothers...
A worthy and distinctive pick as Slovakia’s international Oscar submission, “107 Mothers...
- 12/13/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Pregnant prisoners are the subject of 107 Mothers, Slovakia’s striking but somewhat sluggish International Feature Oscar entry directed by Peter Kerekes who co-wrote with Ivan Ostrochovský, winning Best Screenplay in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section earlier this year.
Inspired by the true stories of women in a Ukrainian prison, 107 Mothers centers on Lesya (Maryna Klimova), who’s serving a seven-year sentence. After giving birth to her child, she remains in jail and can see the baby for set periods each day, just like all the other mothers incarcerated with her. Meanwhile, prison warden Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva) watches the inmates quietly, observing their daily routine.
Kiryazeva’s expressive face brings moments of gentle comedy, but the overall tone is that of a serious observational docudrama, fascinating in parts and slow in others.
There’s no strong narrative arc; more a series of vignettes. The most intriguing parts of the...
Inspired by the true stories of women in a Ukrainian prison, 107 Mothers centers on Lesya (Maryna Klimova), who’s serving a seven-year sentence. After giving birth to her child, she remains in jail and can see the baby for set periods each day, just like all the other mothers incarcerated with her. Meanwhile, prison warden Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva) watches the inmates quietly, observing their daily routine.
Kiryazeva’s expressive face brings moments of gentle comedy, but the overall tone is that of a serious observational docudrama, fascinating in parts and slow in others.
There’s no strong narrative arc; more a series of vignettes. The most intriguing parts of the...
- 11/30/2021
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
The words of The Beatles song: “There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you meant to be, all you need is love” leave a bittersweet taste once you get a flavour of where love can lead you to in this half-documentary/half-fiction prison drama. But don’t get your hopes up, because the touch of love, director Péter Kerekes delivers in this picture, is a cold one.
Leysa (Maryna Klimova) is an exhausted and detached young woman, sentenced to serve out a seven-year sentence in Odessa women's prison for murdering her husband out of jealousy. Her troubles start when she has to deliver her baby son, later to be named Kolya (Vyacheslav Vygovskyi), while in prison, imposing on her a difficult choice. Either give your child up for adoption to a foster home (probably never to see them again), or have a member of your family adopt them in an effort.
Leysa (Maryna Klimova) is an exhausted and detached young woman, sentenced to serve out a seven-year sentence in Odessa women's prison for murdering her husband out of jealousy. Her troubles start when she has to deliver her baby son, later to be named Kolya (Vyacheslav Vygovskyi), while in prison, imposing on her a difficult choice. Either give your child up for adoption to a foster home (probably never to see them again), or have a member of your family adopt them in an effort.
- 11/17/2021
- by Nikola Jovic
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
107 MothersVenice Airport, departure hall, some ungodly hour in the early morning. The Lido feels a whole world away from where I’m sitting, so distant it’s turned into a mirage already; knackered and shaky, I’m guzzling coffee while trying to process the other night’s unexpected, delightful Golden Lion winner: Audrey Diwan’s Happening. It was a historic award for another historic edition. For the first time ever, the festival circuit’s two most coveted statuettes of the year were handed out to women directors: on the heels of Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning Titane, Diwan’s triumph marks the second time in a row the Venice Film Festival’s top prize has been given to a woman. Markedly different in scope and style, both Titane and Happening follow women fighting for control of their bodies; though it’d be premature to call this a watershed moment,...
- 9/13/2021
- MUBI
Award-winning Slovak documaker Peter Kerekes dips a toe in the fiction world with his rigorously researched Venice Horizons competitor “107 Mothers,” set inside a women’s prison in Ukraine. Made over five years and 86 shooting days, it reveals a cloistered world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant and with children. Without the distinctive colored uniforms indicating their status, it would be difficult to distinguish inmates from staff.
What attracted you to this project?
It’s a long story. In the beginning, we wanted to make a documentary film about the last censors. Most censorship today is done by software algorithms. We were interested in censors as human beings. Long story short, while researching this project we met Iryna, the operational officer from the Odessa Female Prison. Part of her job description was to read and censor the prisoners’ letters. Through Iryna, we had...
What attracted you to this project?
It’s a long story. In the beginning, we wanted to make a documentary film about the last censors. Most censorship today is done by software algorithms. We were interested in censors as human beings. Long story short, while researching this project we met Iryna, the operational officer from the Odessa Female Prison. Part of her job description was to read and censor the prisoners’ letters. Through Iryna, we had...
- 9/3/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Award-winning Slovak documaker Peter Kerekes dips a toe in the fiction world with his rigorously researched Venice Horizons competitor “107 Mothers,” set inside a women’s prison in Ukraine. Made over five years and 86 shooting days, it reveals a cloistered world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant and with children. Without the distinctive colored uniforms indicating their status, it would be difficult to distinguish inmates from staff.
• What attracted you to this project?
It’s a long story. In the beginning, we wanted to make a documentary film about the last censors. Most censorship today is done by software algorithms.
We were interested in censors as human beings. Long story short, while researching this project we met Iryna, the operational officer from the Odessa Female Prison. Part of her job description was to read and censor the prisoners’ letters. Through Iryna, we had...
• What attracted you to this project?
It’s a long story. In the beginning, we wanted to make a documentary film about the last censors. Most censorship today is done by software algorithms.
We were interested in censors as human beings. Long story short, while researching this project we met Iryna, the operational officer from the Odessa Female Prison. Part of her job description was to read and censor the prisoners’ letters. Through Iryna, we had...
- 9/2/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
A visually compelling film about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, 107 Mothers opens with the piercing screams of a mother and her child. Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate, is giving birth in a dour hospital room under the soft, watchful gaze of Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward. The relationship between these two women, teeming with anxiety, suspicion and, eventually, an understated mutual respect, becomes the focal point of this quiet docufiction.
Directed by Peter Kerekes and premiering in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar, 107 Mothers pulls its material from the real-life stories of incarcerated ...
Directed by Peter Kerekes and premiering in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar, 107 Mothers pulls its material from the real-life stories of incarcerated ...
A visually compelling film about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, 107 Mothers opens with the piercing screams of a mother and her child. Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate, is giving birth in a dour hospital room under the soft, watchful gaze of Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward. The relationship between these two women, teeming with anxiety, suspicion and, eventually, an understated mutual respect, becomes the focal point of this quiet docufiction.
Directed by Peter Kerekes and premiering in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar, 107 Mothers pulls its material from the real-life stories of incarcerated ...
Directed by Peter Kerekes and premiering in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar, 107 Mothers pulls its material from the real-life stories of incarcerated ...
Variety has been given exclusive access to the first footage to be released from Slovak director Peter Kerekes’ “107 Mothers,” which world premieres in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival. Films Boutique is handling world sales on the film.
“107 Mothers” features mostly real-life female prisoners and prison guards in an Odessa women’s jail acting out their true stories. Two characters are focused on in particular, both played by actors: Lesya, a prisoner with a young boy forced to make a difficult decision, and Irina, a guard, whose life often resembles that of her prisoners. Iryna is “a guardian, confidant, and friend, but also a public official charged with administering punishment,” the director comments.
Lesya has committed a crime of passion, which lands her with a seven-year jail term. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates,...
“107 Mothers” features mostly real-life female prisoners and prison guards in an Odessa women’s jail acting out their true stories. Two characters are focused on in particular, both played by actors: Lesya, a prisoner with a young boy forced to make a difficult decision, and Irina, a guard, whose life often resembles that of her prisoners. Iryna is “a guardian, confidant, and friend, but also a public official charged with administering punishment,” the director comments.
Lesya has committed a crime of passion, which lands her with a seven-year jail term. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates,...
- 8/30/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Kerekes documentary-fiction hybrid is set in an Odessa prison.
German sales outfit Films Boutique has snapped up world rights to Peter Kerekes’ Venice Horizons contender 107 Mothers.
The project participated in the 2020 First Cut Lab run by the When East Meets West forum; and at works-in-progress events at Karlovy Vary in 2017 and Odessa in 2018.
The documentary-fiction hybrid was co-written by Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovsky. It was inspired by the real-life stories of 107 mothers in the Odessa prison in Ukraine and Kerekes spent many years in the prison getting to know the inmates and their stories. The main protagonist Lesya, played by Maryna Klimova,...
German sales outfit Films Boutique has snapped up world rights to Peter Kerekes’ Venice Horizons contender 107 Mothers.
The project participated in the 2020 First Cut Lab run by the When East Meets West forum; and at works-in-progress events at Karlovy Vary in 2017 and Odessa in 2018.
The documentary-fiction hybrid was co-written by Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovsky. It was inspired by the real-life stories of 107 mothers in the Odessa prison in Ukraine and Kerekes spent many years in the prison getting to know the inmates and their stories. The main protagonist Lesya, played by Maryna Klimova,...
- 7/27/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
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