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
- 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
- DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival, Baku, Azerbaijan, September 26, 2023, Best Short Documentary AWARD
- Festival Cinemistica, Granada, Spain, November 20, 2023, Best Anthropological Film AWARD
- International Film Festival “The World of Knowledge”, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, October 7, 2023, National competition, GRAND PRIX
- National award 'Laurel Branch', shortlisted for the Best Debut.
- National award 'Dziga Vertov Prize', shortlisted for the Best Debut.
- Musée du quai Branly — Jacques Chirac, Paris, France, Screening at 28 May 2023. The film is part of the museum’s collection
- 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
- Saratov Sufferings Documentary Drama Film Festival, Saratov, Russian Federation, September 9, 2023, International competition
- CorsicaDoc International Documentary Film Festival, Ajaccio, France, October 13, 2023, New talents competition
- DocuWest Documentary Film Festival, Denver, United States, October 20, 2023, American Premiere, Official selection
- Mostra Internacional de Cinema Documental ‘Mares da Fin do Mundo’ — Documentary Film Festival, La Coruña, Spain, November 1, 2023, International competition
- Etnovideografica — International Ethnovideographic Festival, Zamora, Spain, November 9, 2023, International competition
- FIFMA — Festival International du Film de Montagne d’Autrans, Autrans, France, November 30, 2023, International Competition
- SiberiaDOC International Film Festival, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation, December 5, 2023, International competition
- Tokyo Documentary Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan, December 14, 2023, Visual anthropology and Ethnographic film Competition
- Ethnofest — Athens Ethnographic Film Festival, Athens, Greece, December 3, 2023, Official selection
- International Folklore Film Festival, Kerala, India, January 7, 2024, Official selection
- Festival des Courts en hiver, Porto-Vecchio, France, January 25, 2024, Official selection
- Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Chennai, India, February 20, 2024, Official selection
- Film and Folklore Festival, Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago, March 1, 2024, Official selection
- Artdocfest, Riga, Latvia, March 7, 2024, Open Competition
- International Film Festival “Fishermen of the world”, Lorient, France, March 20, 2024, International competition
- Doc.London Documentary Film Festival, London, United Kingdom, March 27, 2024, London premiere, Official selection
- 71st Martovski Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia, March 29, 2024, Serbian premiere, International competition
- Ethnografilm Paris, Paris, France, April 1, 2024, Official selection
- Ecozine Film Festival, Zagaragoza, Spain, April 5, 2024, Official selection
- Festival International des Films Identitaires et Solidaires, Nikki, Benin, April 27, 2024, Official selection
- 72. Trento Film Festival 2024, Trento, Italy, May 1, 2024, Italian premiere, International competition
- The Quebec International Ethnographic Film Festival, Montreal, Canada, May 10, 2024, Canadian premiere, Official selection
- IndieLisboa — International Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal, May 25, 2024, Portuguese premiere, Competition
- Short documentary film festival “Bistre Reke” (Clear Rivers), Belgrade, Serbia, July 20, 2024, Official selection
- Images en Bibliothèques / Mois du doc, Paris, France
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