How was social movie filmed in a “social” state

ulej.by

Belarusians collect money to crowdfund a movie with the participation of persons with disabilities.

The social drama "The souls of the dead" that tells about the Belarusian company whose employees are people with disabilities is the record-breaker. An 28-minute film was shot in a single shot (without pauses, takes, or cuttings) within one day – on January 26, 2016 – no one in Belarus has never been filming in a single shot for so long before. Apart from professionals, 13 non-professional actors with serious disabilities took part in the shooting; altogether about five dozens people were working on the movie.

- I have never come to deal with people with disabilities. When I received a proposal to shoot a social movie, I wanted to go "brutal". As a result, I looked at myself and realized that I am afraid of them, just as any other person is, - the movie’s director, Viktar Krasouski told the "EuroBelarus" Information Service. - We haven’t touched upon it in the movie, but now I believe that it is not the support that the society should give, but ideas of how to include these people into the society.

- They are still different; the desire to reach out to them appears. On the other hand, it is scary, - adds the screenwriter Siarhei Antsalevich.

It seems that the work over the social drama "The souls of the dead" has greatly influenced the creators themselves, who did not expect it. During the press conference they didn’t always have enough words to express their feelings.

- Previously, in Sparta, when babies had deviations, the Spartans threw them off the mountain. But since people are now living in a civilized society, they are afraid of these feelings and start hiding them behind charity. And it results in today’s situation: yes, we are building ramps, but we put people away in order not to run into them, - the director says.

The authors faced primarily artistic tasks, not moral. The filmmakers say that they were not going to make the audience cry, but to encourage them to take a look at themselves and think.

According to the director, people with disabilities don’t like movies about their own problems.

- The fact that they are the disabled is not the main thing. In our movie the main characters are "normal" people with their fears and cynical attitude toward the others. We were writing a script after ourselves.

To create the film, the authors pulled $250 together. Post-production (which will include voicing, color correction, computer graphics, promotion, and participation in festivals) requires at least another $2000. The authors plan to crowdfund this money at “Ulej” platform in 50 days.

- When planning the filming once we have already set ourselves a task that crowdfunding will be a part of the technological process. This is the way to develop the independent Belarusian cinema. For example, someone likes comedies so (s)he will be pooling for comedies, that is, purchase tickets for the movie that hasn’t been shot yet. This is a modern method of production. This is normal, though set in future a little. Belarusians will get used to it, - the film's producer Leanid Kalitsenia said.

According to him, the team has deliberately refused from state support.

- First, as far as I know the system of public funding of movies, only the application procedure lasts for a year. For comparison, let me say that the whole shooting period took a month and a half. Secondly, there is one place for about 17 projects. Thirdly, three years ago, the movie "We, brothers" took the entire annual budget and nobody got anything.

According to the producer, in such situation, it makes no sense to spend so much effort to get the money from the state, and it is better to ask for people’s support.