Trailer
Piblokto
2023, 38 min, Documentary, experimental.
Directors, Cinematographers: Anastasia Shubina, Timofey Glinin
On the Arctic Ocean coast of Chukotka live a people cut off from the world. Their life revolves around hunting walruses and whales and protecting villages from bears coming from the tundra. This theme turns the film into a reflection on death. Marine animals become the primary source of food for the people, animal leftovers are used to feed arctic foxes on a fur farm, human cemeteries become targets for bears. It appears that all the inhabitants of this region are involved in the cycle of food and death. The film departs from the typical rhythmic structure of cinema and instead adopts the structure of a shamanic ritual, which is a meaning-forming event for the northern peoples.
Film festivals & Awards
- Cinéma du réel — Festival international du film documentaire, Competition, Paris, World Premiere. March 25, 2023. “Prix des détenues” AWARD (Endowed by the Fondation Monique Desfosse)
- Sheffield DocFest — Sheffield International Documentary Festival, Official selection 2023, Sheffield, UK, UK premiere. 16 May 2023.
- Beat Film Festival, international documentary festival, National competition 2023, Moscow, Russia, Russian Premiere. V-A-C foundation AWARD
- Musée du quai Branly — Jacques Chirac, Paris, France, Screening at 28 May 2023.
- AegeanDocs International Film FestivalNorth Aegean Islands, Greece, October 17, 2023, Official Selection.
- Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival, Debet, Armenia, August 20, 2023, Short film competition
Piblokto in press:
— Life on the Chukchi Sea coast. A film shot in Chukotka offers a glimpse of one of Russia’s Arctic Indigenous cultures. Meduza Journal.
— Arctic hysteria at the end of the world. How does a village in Chukotka opposite the USA live? (“Арктическая истерия на краю света. Как живет поселок на Чукотке напротив США”). Radio France internationale in Russian.
— Entretien avec Anastasia Shubina et Timofey Glinin, réalisateurs de Piblokto. Mediapart.
— Остальную Россию здесь называют “материком”. Чукчи и эскимосы на берегу океана (The rest of Russia is called “mainland” here. Chukchi and Eskimos on the shore of Arctic ocean), Сибирь Реалии.
Film reviews:
— PIBLOKTO. Cinéma du Réel review.
— ‘Piblokto’: Fuera de la zona de confort. Criticum.
— Journal du réel n°4. Piblokto de Timofey Glinin et Anastasia Shubina (Russie, Etats-Unis, 2023).
— Beyond the Qualities That Money Can Buy: Select Shorts From Cinéma du Réel