Vasili SIGAREV
Василий СИГАРЕВ
Vassili SIGAREV
Russia, 2009, 86mn 
fiction
Wolfy
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Волчок

 

 La Toupie

 Volchok

 
Directed by : Vasili SIGAREV (Василий СИГАРЕВ)
Writing credits : Vasili SIGAREV (Василий СИГАРЕВ)
 
Cast
Polina PLUCHEK (Полина ПЛУЧЕК)
Yana TROYANOVA (Яна ТРОЯНОВА)
 
Cinematography : Aleksey ARSENTYEV (Алексей АРСЕНТЬЕВ)
Produced by : Roman BORISEVICH (Роман БОРИСЕВИЧ), Ruben DISHDISHIAN (Рубен ДИШДИШЯН)
Production : Central Partnership, Koktebel Film Company
Film revenue in Russia : 0.058 million dollars
 
Site : trailer

Awards :
First prize Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2009
Best actress Yana TROYANOVA , Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2009
Best Screenplay Vasili SIGAREV , Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2009
Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics Prize Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2009
Best feature film International Zurich Film Festival, Zurich (Switzerland), 2009
FIPRESCI Prize Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2009
Don Quijote prize (FICC) Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2009
Ecumenical Jury Diploma Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2009
Best first film Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2009
Best film Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2009
Best first film Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2009
Best Cinematography Aleksey ARSENTYEV , "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2009

Plot synopsis
The movie Wolfy makes a surprising impression. On the one hand, its director Vassily Sigarev, tells a very harsh, realistic and even brutal story about the relationship between a mother and her seven-year-old daughter. They have no names and their conversations are meaningless, but in each next scene you see more clearly that the two female characters are inseparable and as essential to one another as Yin and Yang.
On the other hand, in visual and dramatic terms, the movie resembles a fairy tale; terrible but nonetheless vivid and beautiful, and, as in any fairy tale, a magical object figures in the movie – a spinning top called Wolfy, a present from the mother to her daughter.
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Signs of the Everyday in Post-Soviet Cinema, Liliia NEMCHENKO, kinokultura.com, 2011
Le cinéma russe, vingt-cinq ans déjà..., Marilyne FELLOUS, kinoglaz.fr, 2010
Vasilii Sigarev : Wolfy (Volchok, 2009), Mark LIPOVETSKY, kinokultura.com, 2009
 
Police pursue a pregnant woman across a snow-covered field and she goes into premature labour. A young girl, the result of the birth, announces in voiceover that she didn't meet her mother until seven years later. Wolfy charts the ongoing course of their relationship, which remains central to the little girl's life. However, she sees her mother rarely and is left in the care of her grandmother and, subsequently, an invalid aunt. Her mother seems to depend on the sexual favours of men and occasionally brings her presents, most significantly a spinning top ('volchok', which is also the Russian for little wolf). Written and directed by one of Russia's leading contemporary playwrights, Vassily Sigarev, whose Plasticine was staged at the Royal Court, the story was based on the experiences of leading actress, Yana Troyanova, who plays the role of the mother. While the subject is, on the surface, grim, Sigarev deliberately sought 'the sensation of childhood memories', arguing that childhood memories can be beautiful regardless. A strikingly imagined combination of social observation and fairy tale, Sigarev's directing debut gives a strong indication that, as he has stated elsewhere, his first love is cinema. Peter Hames (http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/node/540)

Review by Mark Lipovetsky on www.kultura.com

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2019
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2011
- The Dublin International Film Festival, Dublin (Ireland), 2010
- Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro (Italy), 2010
- "Spirit of Fire" International Debut Film Festival, Khanty Mansiysk (Russia), 2010
- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2010
- Art Film Festival, Trencin (Slovakia), 2010
- Göteborg International Film Festival, Göteborg (Sweden), 2010
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2010
- Russian Film Week in New York, New York (USA), 2010
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), 2009
- Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2009
- Russian Film Festival, Riga (Latvia), 2009
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2009
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2009
- International Film Festival : Pacific Meridians, Vladivostok (Russia), 2009
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2009
- "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2009
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2009
- International Zurich Film Festival, Zurich (Switzerland), 2009
- Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2009
- The Times BFI London Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2009
- Leeds International Film Festival, Leeds (United Kingdom), 2009

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