Description
World premiere
Valka cannot keep his balance. He needs crutches to stand and walk, and a bicycle to run. For him, the world is full of perils and mishaps. How can one face life at nine years old, when a wrong step or the slightest push sends you tumbling? To steady himself, Valka has invented a mantra: “I’m a real samurai!” Armed with it, he takes his first independent and courageous steps toward the world.
About the director:
Dmitry Vorobiev
Producer and director. Graduated from the Sverdlovsk Institute of Architecture and later from the Business School of the Ural Gold and Platinum Institute. As a producer, he has worked on about twenty documentary and live-action films. His feature directorial debut, The Brownie and the Lace Maker (1995), won the main prize at the Zolotoy Vityaz Festival. Other works include the documentaries Gosha and the Angels (2008), The White Bird (2011), and Football for Adults (2015).
Lida Kanashova
Screenwriter and director. Graduated from VGIK’s Film Studies Faculty. In collaboration with Aleksey Fedorchenko, she wrote the screenplays for Breathe (short, 2017), Big Snakes of Ulli-Kale (2021), The Last Darling Bulgaria (2022), and Mitrofan Aksenov’s Sausage (2023).
Their first joint directorial work, Valka (2017), won an award at the “Russia” Documentary Film Festival.