The Presidential Library hosted a pre-premiere screening of the film "Northerners"

On December 19, 2022 the Presidential Library hosted a screening of the film "Northerners" created with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.

According to directors, "Northerners" is a documentary film about the traditions and culture of Vologda Region. The Vologda land is a small homeland for them. The main objective of the project is to give Vologda residents the opportunity to tell their personal stories related to their native land, its past, its character in the language of cinema.

The film draws the attention of contemporaries to the historical and cultural roots still preserved in remote villages in the Russian North.

The artistic director of the project was Ksenia Okhapkina, documentary filmmaker, winner of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Oscar nominee. Among the experts are director of photography Airat Yamilov (nominated for the Nika award), documentary film director Vladislav Grishin (winner of the Golden Eagle award). The producer of the project is Nikolai Kotyash, chairman of the Youth Center of the Union of Cinematographers of St. Petersburg.

For four months, ten directors developed ideas and designs, filmed sketches. In June, an open presentation of ten stories took place in Vologda, which were then filmed.

At the end of August, a film campus was held in the village of Shelota, Vologda Region. Here all the participants of the project, its curators and leaders gathered with the footage to edit the future full-length film. The final montage of the documentary included 6 stories. Episodes were filmed linking them together. So the Northerners project became the first documentary film campus in Russia.

The documentary "Northerners" tells about the return to the ancestral home, about the search for the grave of his father, about the artist who builds a flotilla for his beloved wife in the middle of the field, about the difficult female lot, about the magical reserved lake, about silence. But these are not just stories, these are the directors' thoughts about their home.

The event was attended by the creators of the film "Northerners": the artistic director of the project Ksenia Okhapkina, producer Nikolai Kotyash and members of the film laboratory.