The Pencil | Prostoy karandash

  • Archive - Festival 36
  • Director: Natalya Nazarova
  • Russia 2019
  • 93 minutes
  • Russian
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

Antonina, an artist from Saint Petersburg, follows her husband Sergey - a celebrated artist and political prisoner - to the deep north province of Russia. She starts teaching art in a local school and is determined to lift the spirit of the downtrodden children in her class. But Antonina soon finds herself in confrontation with a twelve-year-old boy, Misha, whose brother is a feared local gang leader.

Natalya Nazarova, an acting teacher, presents an entertaining and thought provoking film about the unseen drama of a teacher's job. Her film artfully combines the aesthetics of a thriller with pointed social commentary artfully.

Filmography: The Daughter (2012).

 

Video talk with the dorector


  • Director Natalya Nazarova
  • Production Deni Kovalevskiy, Maxim Dashkin, Anna Dziembowska, Boris Frumin
  • Script Natalya Nazarova
  • Cinematography Andrey Naydenov
  • Editing Olga Proshkina, Pavel Kuprikov
  • Festivals Vyborg Okno (Critics’ Award, Special Jury Award), Honfleur Festival of Russian Cinema (Best Film Award, Audience Award), Cairo, Santa Barbara
  • With Nadezhda Gorelova, Vladimir Mishukov
  • Source Fortissimo Films, Amsterdam