Pesn pesney

Ukraine

Synopsis

1905. A Jewish Shtetl. Shimek and Buzya are two 10-year-olds. Of course, she is a princess and he is a prince. They live in the same yard, in neighboring palaces. What Buzya really means to him, Shimek begins to understand only years later when, far away from home, he receives the news that Buzya is about to be married off.

Director's Statement

“Song of Songs” by Sholem Aleichem to me was a treasure in which simplicity and fragility are the strongholds. Here you have real beauty, the deepness that allows one to soar high. In the film, I wanted very conscientiously to bring to screen the world created by Sholem Aleichem. The basis of this precious world is the special chastity that allows one to retain the ability to forgive and to breathe as in childhood, and absolutely seriously to long for something quite unrealisable. I wanted to get to the place where fears will recede in front of tenderness, where the soul will rest, and will remember something very dear, very close, where one can hope that two parallel lines will intersect: on the one hand the graceful line of dreams, weightlessness, and on the other, the vulnerability facing the circumstances that usually make up the ineluctable stream of life.

Director's Biography

Eva Neymann, born in 1974, in Zaporozhje, Ukraine, studied Law at the Philipps Universität in Marburg (1994-1998) and graduated in film directing from the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (2007). Eva directed three documentary and three feature films that have been screened and awarded at numerous international film festivals. Her previous feature film HOUSE WITH A TURRET (2012) premiered in the East Of the West competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF, winning the Prize for Best Film.

Filmography
2012 - HOUSE WITH A TURRET
2007 - AT THE RIVER
2007 - GOD’S WAYS , doc.
2005 - DAS MEER SEHEN, short
2004 - JUST LIKE OLD TIMES, doc
2001 - SAMRI OTOMRI, short
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Eva Neymann

Written by: Eva Neymann

Produced by: Alexander Tkachenko, Igor Kolomoisky

Cinematography: Rimvydas Leipus

Editing: Pavel Zalesov

Production Design: Gennadiy Popov, Ilya Iovu

Costume Design: Ruslan Khvastov

Make-Up & Hair: Oksana Yarmolenko

Original Score: Alexander Shchepotin

Cast: Milena Tsibulskaya (Small Buzya), Yevheniy Kogan (Small Shimek), Arina Postolova-Tihipko (Buzya), Arseniy Semenov (Shimek), Karen Badalov (Shimek's father), Vitalina Bibliv (Shimek mother), Samoil Silin (Shimek's grandfather), Miklail Bogdasarov (Uncle), Vsevelod Shilovskuy (Melamed)

Nominations and Awards

  • Feature Film Selection 2016