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Playing on heart-strings
Published: 22 August, 2009, 14:34
Image from "Melody for a Street Organ"
One of Russia’s most prominent filmmakers, veteran director Kira Muratova, will present her drama "Melody for a Street Organ" at the world’s biggest film festival in Toronto.
Muratova’s film will be screened in the framework of “The Masters Sidebar” program along with works by such big-name directors as Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, Amos Gitai and Francois Ozon.
"Melody for a Street Organ" had its world premiere at the Moscow International Film festival in July and was praised by film critics.
The tragic story revolves around the lives of two orphans on Christmas Eve. Following their mother’s Kira Muratova with the leading actors |
The 75-year-old Muratova said initially she didn’t want professional actors to play in her film, and was looking for real orphans. But Ukraine-based director eventually realized that they had serious health problems and couldn’t work on set.
As a result, according to the film producer Oleg Kokhan, over one thousand teenagers took part in the casting. It took Muratova 4 months to find two actors, 8-year-old Roma Burlak and 12-year-old Lena Kostyuk who was named “Best Actress” at the 31st Moscow Film Festival.
Meanwhile, The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most important marketing events in the film calendar for both European and Asian filmmakers targeting American audiences. The festival runs from September 10 to 19.
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