By Vestnik Kavkaza
The capital of Hungary welcomed the ninth international human rights movie festival Verzio (Version). According to the organization committee, a documentary is aimed at presentation of a new version, new reality.
The first movie festival Verzio was held in 2004 under the Fund Verzio Film and OSA Archivum. At first works by Hungarian documentary directors prevailed in the program of the festival. Soon the diversity of participants extended, and now visitors of the festival can esteem works by directors from East, Central, and West Europes, America, China, and even Iran.
The festival is focused on civil and political human rights. This year a separate program devoted to the Russian reality was presented - Eyes on Russia - which included a series of films produced by Russia, Hungarian, Polish, and Danish documentary directors. Nine films about current Russia, life in Moscow and regions, attitudes and interests of various social classes show a multisided picture of the Russian reality.
The movie "Anton is Close Here" by Lyubov Arkus which was first time presented at the Venice international movie festival tells about four years of life of an autist boy named Anton: from his staying in a mental hospital to his transformation in the autist community.
"Winter, go away!" is a documentary about a spike of activeness in the civil society in Moscow last winter.
"Tomorrow" by Andrey Gryazev is the only video recorded evidence of life of the art-group Voina (War) which activity is balancing between modern art and crime. The film "Putin's Kiss" shot by the Danish documentary directors tells about Masha from a province, who made a brilliant career in the organization Nashi, but later was disappointed with politics.
Films "My Soviet pen pal" and "Born in the USSR: 28 years" are focused on people who were born in one country, but grew up in different states. "My Soviet pen pol" is a film-travel by the Hungarian director Gabor Zhigmond Rapp who tries to realize changes which happened in the post-Soviet area through his childhood memories. His letter communication with a Russian girl in the 1980s becomes a starting point for considerations on dynamic changes in the capital.
"Born in the USSR: 28 years" is the fourth episode in the documentary series by Sergey Miroshnichenko who follows loves of 20 people who were born in the Soviet Union. The first episode was shot in 1990 when the heroes were 7-year old. Since that time every seven years Miroshnichenko meets his characters and tells the audience about changes happened in their lives. The main peculiarity of "Born in the USSR" is that characters' lives are watched through the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The setting takes place in Russia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, America, France, Lithuania, and Israel.
Visitors hope that next year the Budapest festival program will include films about Russia with its contradictions and variety of views and fates too.
