world press photo - online exhibition 2021

6 August 2019 – A film crew shoots the second part of The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows, which is based on an old folktale, in Sakha, Russian Federation. The first part of the film, directed by Konstantin Timofeev, was a top-ten box-office hit earlier in 2019.

12 March 2019 – Director Stepan Burnashev (right) rehearses lead actor Fedot Lvov in Khara Khaar (Black Snow), a drama about life in the North, how relationships deteriorate due to constant competition and the desire to earn more money, and the problems of modern society, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

10 June 2019 – Actor Vasily Sleptsov vapes during breaks between takes of the mystical horror film, The Cursed Land. The film explores the complicated relationship between nature, community and the souls of distant ancestors, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

3 September 2019 – Isabella Nikolaeva, renowned in Sakha for her theater roles, prepares to appear in the historical comedy Hurried, based on the classic drama by Yakut writer Nikolai Neustroev, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

31 May 2019 – Stepan Petrov (left) drinks cognac at home with screenwriter Semyon Ermolaev (middle) and director Eduard Novikov (right), in Sakha, Russian Federation. Their feature film The Lord Eagle—a story about an old man and his wife, who sheltered an eagle, a sacred bird in the Yakut culture—won the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2018. Petrov is not a professional actor, but plays in the folk theater of the small village Kerdem, where he lives with his wife.

9 August 2019 – Twins Semyon and Stepan perform in the roles of dulgancha, mythical swamp creatures, in The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows, in Sakha, Russian Federation. It is their first part in a film.

5 July 2019 – Actor Afanasy Karamzin shots a scene for the mystical horror film, The Cursed Land, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

24 October 2020 – Grigory Zamyatin, a hunter, watches a movie on his laptop in his tent, before going to sleep, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

5 July 2019 – Residents of the village of Magaras, who participated as extras in the mystical drama The Cursed Land, pose for a group photo, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

8 August 2019 – A movie crew shoots a scene for The Old Beyberikeen With Five Cows, in which the leading characters do battle with an abaasy, a destructive ancestral spirit, in Sakha, Russian Federation.

1st Prize Stories, Contemporary Issues

24 October 2020

Alexey Vasilyev, Russia

Sakhawood

Although Sakha (also known as Yakutia), in the far northeast of the Russian Federation, extends over more than three million square kilometers, its population numbers barely 950,000 people, around 50% of whom are ethnic Sakha (Yakuts). Art has become a way of showcasing and preserving Sakha culture, traditions, and stories. Cinema has flourished there since the 1990s. Around seven to ten feature films are shot a year, by a local movie industry lightheartedly dubbed ‘Sakhawood’.

“Sakhawod was one of my favorites in the category. When you tell a story, whether in pictures or words, you’re essentially creating a world to engage and sustain our interest and belief in that world, consistently and with rhythm, throughout the entire sequence. The photographer does this very well—I find myself experiencing the atmosphere, smells, sounds, and conversations the subjects might be having.”

Kevin WY Lee, General Jury member

Audio Commentary

Ethical Dilemmas

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