Short film
VALERIA
Valeria, a cleaning lady lives a simple life of melancholic routine. In the apartment where she has to carry out her work, however, strange events and bizarre visions slowly involve her in the unhappy epilogue of a love story that took place in the past between two young people, a relationship that ended suddenly due to a war. He could be the man whose return she still awaits.
A poetic story narrated with a bit of thrill and mystery in which boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred.
A poetic story narrated with a bit of thrill and mystery in which boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred.
Project Title (OriginalLanguage): "Валерия"
Project Type: Short, Student
Runtime: 30 minutes
Completion Date: April 6, 2023
Country of Origin: Russian Federation
Country of Filming: Russian Federation
Language: Russian (English subtitle)
Shooting Format: Digital, RED
Aspect Ratio: 2x35
Film Color: Color
Student Project: "High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors G.N.Danelia”
Project Type: Short, Student
Runtime: 30 minutes
Completion Date: April 6, 2023
Country of Origin: Russian Federation
Country of Filming: Russian Federation
Language: Russian (English subtitle)
Shooting Format: Digital, RED
Aspect Ratio: 2x35
Film Color: Color
Student Project: "High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors G.N.Danelia”
Director Statement
The short-film depicts a fragment of life of a woman whose story we know nothing about.
We only know that she works for a cleaning company and cleans apartments. One summer evening, she goes in a new apartment to carry out her job and discovers that the place has something to do with her life. Has she been there in her past?
The drama that the heroine experienced is inextricably linked with the search for love, which once could not be realized due to the intervention of fatal circumstances. This regret left an imprint on the rest of the heroine's life and made her lonely.
Although the location of the film is naturalistic the story is narrated in a non-objective space as if it seen through the imagination of the protagonist, so that what is real and what is unreal mixes in her experience like in a lucid dream of her lonely soul.
The aim of my work is about the possibility that I find in images to explore poetically the inescapable need of the individual to create a relation between his immagination, his inner world, and the reality outside him, which is concrete but in some way unbelievable.
The possible dynamics of these relations are a kind of mind game that include the frailty of the past, made of facts - real or imagined - and the uncertainty of a future made of hopes. The present - the only time accessible to us - is represented by the images that I shoot with accuracy trying to find a quasi-pictorial reality. A kind of landscape sometimes resembling a still-life.
We only know that she works for a cleaning company and cleans apartments. One summer evening, she goes in a new apartment to carry out her job and discovers that the place has something to do with her life. Has she been there in her past?
The drama that the heroine experienced is inextricably linked with the search for love, which once could not be realized due to the intervention of fatal circumstances. This regret left an imprint on the rest of the heroine's life and made her lonely.
Although the location of the film is naturalistic the story is narrated in a non-objective space as if it seen through the imagination of the protagonist, so that what is real and what is unreal mixes in her experience like in a lucid dream of her lonely soul.
The aim of my work is about the possibility that I find in images to explore poetically the inescapable need of the individual to create a relation between his immagination, his inner world, and the reality outside him, which is concrete but in some way unbelievable.
The possible dynamics of these relations are a kind of mind game that include the frailty of the past, made of facts - real or imagined - and the uncertainty of a future made of hopes. The present - the only time accessible to us - is represented by the images that I shoot with accuracy trying to find a quasi-pictorial reality. A kind of landscape sometimes resembling a still-life.
Olga Khoreva
Director Biography
Olga was born in 1983 St. Petersburg. After her diploma in acting in the “ Academy of Dramatic Art", she worked for 10 years at the Theatre "School of Dramatic Art" in Moscow and realized single projects for other theatres ("Tiramisu", I. Ovsyanko, "The dry breakfasts", V. Durnenkov,"You are interested", O. Strizhak, in Meyerhold Center and Theater.doc "New drama", "The fantasies" Alla Sokolova, "Cosmos...or "Life is an inexplicable mystery", by Klim in the "Theatre of Drama "Modern", "Request concert" by Franz Xaver Kretz in in the theatre “Osobnyak" ). She still collaborates as an actress with the "Stanislavsky Electrotheatre” of Moscow.
As acting teacher she works both in Russia and Europe, specialized in Demidov training method for actors.
As an actress she is a multiple winner in International Festivals and "Best Actress" in the solo performance "Aglaya" based on the novel of Dostoevsky "Idiot", author of the text Klim.
In 2023 she graduated as a director in the "High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors G.N.Danelia” in the course "Studio of Feature Film Directing of A.B. Muradov and A.M. Dobrovolsky”.
She shot several studio films. The short film "Valeria" is her first debut work.
As acting teacher she works both in Russia and Europe, specialized in Demidov training method for actors.
As an actress she is a multiple winner in International Festivals and "Best Actress" in the solo performance "Aglaya" based on the novel of Dostoevsky "Idiot", author of the text Klim.
In 2023 she graduated as a director in the "High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors G.N.Danelia” in the course "Studio of Feature Film Directing of A.B. Muradov and A.M. Dobrovolsky”.
She shot several studio films. The short film "Valeria" is her first debut work.
TEAM
- Olga KhorevaDirector & Screenwriter & Producer
- Ruslan MamedovScreenwriter
- Valery KaydinCo - screenwriter
- Vladimir DydykinDirector of Photography
- Vadim AndreevCostume Designer
- Ekaterina PavlyukovaProduction Designer
- Daria SoldatovaAssistant Production Designer
- Georgy MoiseevComposer
- Alexey PinchukExecutive Producer
- Lidia MatveevaExecutive Producer
- Nadezhda GrishaevaExecutive Producer
- Mikhail KhokhlovLocation Manager
- Svetlana StroganovaCasting Assistant
- Ilia MaskilyisonGaffer
- Roman TsurkovSteadicam Operator
- Radmila OvchinnikovaFocus Puller
- Dajana LifsitsFirst Assistant Director
- Alexandra ChichkanovaAssistant Director
- Elena SuminaPost-production Producer
- Apollinary ZakharovCG and Animation Artist
- Stephan ZakharovRoto-Paint Artist
- Vsevolod YashkinFilm Editing
- Ivan DorogavtsevColorist
- Anton PerevedentsevMastering
- Sofya OstrovskayaSound Designer
- Alexandra ZionSound Engineer
- Alexandra KozlovaMake-up Artist
- Anton KokorinStoryboard Artist
- Anna MoiseevaPhotographer of Backstage
- Sergey MaydanovichTechnical Consultant
- Eugene ZorinTechnical Specialist
- Tatiana BuryakProps Assistant
- Alexey AbakumovPhotographer of Backstage
- Elizaveta BrysinaFilm editor of the trailer / backstage
- Aleksandr VoblikovPoster Designer
- Olga ChumachenkoPhotographer
- Anna KlimnyukFilm editor of the backstage
- Ivan GazukinPhotographer
- Elena KuptsovaPhotographer
- Jenya Selivanova
English Subtitles
MAIN CAST
- Kolya NeukoellnValeria
- Anastasia BelovaYoung woman
- Pavel IlinSergey
SUPPORTING CAST
- Anton AleksashinSoldier
- Ivan BatrakSoldier
BACKSTAGE BY ANNA MOISEEVA, ALEXSEY ABAKUMOV, ELENA KUPTSOVA, OLGA CHUMACHENKO, IVAN GAZUKIN
BACKSTAGE
Festivals
"Giove International Film Festival"
Award Winner - "Best International Short Film"
Campo di Giove
Italy, August 2023
XVI International Film Festival of Actors and Directors "GOLDEN PHOENIX"
Diploma of the jury "For creating an expressive atmosphere in the frame"
Smolensk
Russian Federation, September 2023
Cinema of the World International Film Festival
Award Winner in 5 nominations:
Best Motion Picture - Short
Best Director
Best Cinematographer
Best Production Design
Best Performance by an Artist
NoidaIndia, September 2023
Film Festival "White Bird"
Award Winner - "Best Short Film"
Kazan
Russian Federation, Ottobre 2023
XVI International Film Festival "East&West. Classics and Avant-Garde"
Official selection - Finalist
Orenburg
Russian Federation, August 2023
Student Film Festival "Meter with a Cap"
Official selection - Finalist
Moscow
Russian Federation, August 2023
"FICY Festival International de cine de Yopal"
Official selection - Finalist
Yopal
Columbia, Ottobre, 2023
"Phlegraean Film Festival"
Official selection - "Best Cinematography Section"
Napoli
Italy, Ottobre, 2023
"XX International Charity Film Festival “Radiant Angel”
Official selection - Finalist
Moscow
Russian Federation, November, 2023
"VII International Russian Film Festival"
Award Winner - "Best Short Film"
Moscow
Russian Federation, November, 2023
Reale Film Festival
Award Winner - "Best Hope"
Milan
Italy, November, 2023
International Film Festival "Short Shot Fest"
Official selection - Finalist
Moscow
Russian Federation, November, 2023
International Short Film Festival "Ural-Short"
Award Winner - "Best Cinematography"
Nizhny Tagil
Russian Federation, November, 2023
Dhaka International Film Festival
Official selection - «Women Filmmakers Section»
Dhaka
Bangladesh, January 2024
International Student Film Festival -SBVC
Official Selection - Finalist
California
United States, March 2024
"Your Way International Film Festival" - YWIFF
Award Winner - "Best student film"
October - November
Valletta
Malta, July, 2024
"CINENOVA Interuniversity Film Festival"
Official Selection - Finalist
Lisbon
Portugal, February, 2024
"Diorama International Film Festival"
Official Selection - Finalist
Dubai
United Arab Emirates, March 2024
X International Film Festival of Sound Engineer's student works "INtonations"
Official Selection - Finalist in the category "Best Sound Director's Debut"
Saint-Petersburg
Russian Federation, April 2024
II All-Russian Film Festival of Youth Pariotic Cinema "ZOV"
Official Selection - Finalist
Votkinsk, Udmurt Republic
Russian Federation, May 2024
International Film Festival "Venezia Shorts"
Official Semifinalist
Venezia
Italy, June 2024
"New York Indie Shorts Awards"
Official Semifinalist
New York
United States, August 2024
"Kansas City Underground Film Festival"
Finalist
Kansas City
United States, September 2024
"Golden Bridge İstanbul Short Film Festival"
Official Selection
İstanbul
Turkey, September 2024
"Cannes Indie Shorts Awards"
Official Semifinalist
Cannes
France, November 2024
Youth Festival of Independent Cinema "Funduk"
Award Winner – Best Actress
Moscow
Russian Federation, January 2025
Contact us:
olga.khoreva@gmail.com
e.v.sumina@gmail.com
e.v.sumina@gmail.com
