Cannes

RUSSIA’S ‘ROAD TO’ WINS CINEFONDATION AWARD AT 65TH CANNES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 

 Managing Director of ROSKINO Catherine Mtsitouridze announced today that the Russian film director Taisia Igumentseva was awarded with the First Cinefondation Prize and €15,000 during the 65th Cannes Film Festival for the short feature film Road To, which she made with the help of the All-Russian State University of Cinema VGIK and Alexey Uchitel’s film studio Rock Films, was supported by ROSKINO and included in the compilation of short films “Global Russians”.  The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 15 student films, chosen out of nearly 1,700 entries from 320 film schools around the world. The Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury headed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne included Arsinée Khanjian, Karim Aïnouz, Emmanuel Carrère and Yu Lik-Wai.  ‘Road To’ is Taisia’s final work at the All-Russian State University of Cinema VGIK (workshop of Alexey Uchitel). The film ultimately tells the story of lonely people in big cities. Sergey is an "invisible" man who works as a sales assistant in an empty shop of unusual gadgets. He rents a room at a pensioner's apartment, who annoys Sergey with his advice and preaches unnecessarily. However, at night Sergey has a secret.  He puts on his best tie and costume, goes to the neighboring large apartment house and shouts abusive dialogue as loud as he can, to wake up all the sleeping people until he gets beaten up by the local mobs. One day Sergey finds a girl that he likes, who seems to like him as well. But will he dare to share with her his rituals of crazy night shouting, and will she appreciate it? There are different ways to share and feel connected to the rest of the world and to share, and this film explores one of them. 

Catherine Mtsitouridze, MD ROSKINO said: “The focus for ROSKINO is to bring international awareness to Russian cinema and so we are thrilled that one of the films we have supported and championed has been recognized at such a prestigious international film festival such as Cannes.  There is such fantastic young talent in Russia, and Taisia is testament to that.  We are looking forward to her future work and know she has a brilliant international career ahead of her.”

 Taisia Igumentseva, Director, Road To said, “It is a great honour to win this award not only for me but for Russian Cinema.  To have my work recognized by such an esteemed jury is truly a privilege, and is most definitely a pivotal moment in my career. ” Road To CreditsDirector Taisia IgumentsevaScreenplay by Alexandra GolovinaDirector of Photography Alexander TananovProduction Designer Natalya KlyukinaMusic by Timur Maksimov, Dmitry Lisitsa, Dmitry Komissarov, Igor TarasovProducers Taisia Igumentseva, Alexey UchitelCast Sergey Abroskin, Anna Rud, Sergey Podkolzin, Vladimir GorislavetsProduction Taisia Igumentseva, RockFilmsCountry of production RussiaTime32 minGenre  Dramedy