DOCS Marianna Kaat

About Mother

by Viktor Koshkin Photo Marianna Kaat

Filipp Kruusvall talks to Marianna Kaat, the producer of the film Life of Ivanna by Renato Borrayo Serrano.

Estonia has a long experience and tradition of making documentaries about native inhabitants of Siberia, the Samoyedic and the FinnoUgric people. The former president of Estonia, Lennart Meri, and awarded director and ethnologist Liivo Niglas, have made several remarkable documentaries about that region and the fragile lifestyle. Therefore it’s natural that Estonia became a coproduction partner with Russia, Norway, and Finland to shoot an intriguing story about a 26yearyoung Nenets mother of five children, Ivanna. Director Renato Borrayo 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 dramatic 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 conditions 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 northwest 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 response from international festivals. We premiered simultaneously on two continents, in Denmark at CPH:DOX and in Canada at HotDocs. There are several festivals, Krakow Film Festival, DOK.fest