DOCS
About Mother Filipp Kruusvall talks to Marianna Kaat, the producer of the film Life of Ivanna by Renato Borrayo Serrano.
Photo by Viktor Koshkin
E 18
Marianna Kaat
ESTONIAN FILM
stonia has a long experience and tradition of making docu mentaries about native inhab itants of Siberia, the Samo yedic and the Finno-Ugric people. The former president of Estonia, Lennart Meri, and awarded director and ethnologist Liivo Niglas, have made sever al remarkable documentaries about that region and the fragile lifestyle. Therefore it’s natural that Estonia became a co-pro duction partner with Russia, Norway, and Finland to shoot an intriguing story about a 26-year-young Nenets mother of five children, Ivanna. Director Renato Bor rayo Serrano, who is from Guatemala, but lives in Moscow, followed the traditional
nomadic life of Ivanna and her family closely for four years through her dramat ic life changes, from the harsh life in the tundra to the modern life in the Siberian city of Norilsk. It’s a story about a strong woman and her dramatic choices in con ditions few westerners can imagine. It’s incredible how close the camera was to the main protagonist, both emotionally and physically. Renato Borrayo Serrano shows at the same time a very rough and gentle life in the Arctic region in north west Siberia, avoiding the clichés, and even the colonial gaze so common when shooting in such an exotic environment. Marianna, how successful was the release of Life of Ivanna during such a challenging time?
Life of Ivanna received a very positive re sponse from international festivals. We premiered simultaneously on two conti nents, in Denmark at CPH:DOX and in Canada at HotDocs. There are several festivals, Krakow Film Festival, DOK.fest
