ОСКОЛКИ

Georgia, Germany

Documentary

In spring 2022, Masha prepares to leave Russia – her home country that has changed. It turns into chain of unexpected farewells: her mom dies of cancer, her lover flees army conscription, everything including her own old self is falling apart. Her way to cope with the grief is to fixate everything with her camera. Her anger guides her to inner emigration to the local underground scene, which became an escape for young Russians. This kaleidoscope of shards chronicles not only spirit of the time, but the director's personality crumbling against the backdrop of global turmoil.

Directed by: Masha Chernaya
Produced by: Sergey Yahontov, Pavel Karykhalin, Archil Gelovani
Cinematography: Masha Chernaya
Editing: Masha Chernaya
Sound: Andrey Guryanov, Vladimir Nazarchuk

Statement of the director:
It feels like the world fell apart into pieces, shards, and these shards exist in chaos. Chaos became my method and the way of structuring the film. THE SHARDS is a mosaic or a puzzle with various pictures of life. It was not only a metaphor for the present but also a protest against dangerous simplifications and dehumanisation. Capturing the crumbling reality around me also turned into an unexpected salvation, and my camera turned into a shield.
In times of global shocks and conflicts, the personal pain and private life are silenced as something untimely, but this silencing does not make the world a better place. The dimension of the particular helps us understand the general and the collective more deeply. Small details of daily life, fragments of conversations – these are what become imprints in our memory about certain times, not news headlines.
My personal loss, grief, and bewilderment gave me, as a documentary filmmaker, the important chance to reflect the loss, grief, and bewilderment of millions of other people.

Production:
Independent Film Project
http://ifp.ge