Director | Denis Shably |
Scriptwriter | Denis Shably |
Producer | Denis Shably |
Producer | Olga Filonova |
Cinematographer / DP | Dmitry Novikov |
Art director | Sergei Tanygin |
Editor | Denis Shably |
Sound Designer | Asya Dementieva |
Sound Designer | Ulya Goryainova |
Oleg Loginov | |
Dmitry Mosunov | |
Artyom Pyagay | |
Stepan Sverchkov | |
Anastasia Fedorova | |
Konstantin Yankov | |
Ivan Kamenshchikov | |
Ilya Kislitsyn |
Director and screenwriter. Born in Sernur Village, Mari El Republic. In 2012 he graduated from Mari State University (law studies), in 2018 he graduated from Ostankino University of Film and Television (theater and film actor, workshop of E.A. Germanova), and in 2020 he graduated from Mikhalkov Academy of Cinematographic and Theatre Arts (directing, workshop of V.I. Khotinenko, V.A. Fenchenko). The winner of the National Youth Film Award for the Best Film Shot on a Smartphone (2020), the Award for Kindness in Art “For Peace” (2021), the Mari El State Youth Award Named After Olyk Ipai (2022). He was awarded the gratitude of the Ministry of Culture, Media and Ethnic Affairs of the Republic of Mari El “For contribution to the development of Mari cinema”, the gratitude of the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug “For the strengthening of the common cultural cinematographic international space”. In 2021, he was awarded the title of the Person of the Region by the informational agency SM-News.
2020 "Observator" (short film, fiction) 2021 Through the Eyes of War (web series) 2021 "Not Ivan, or How to tame a Bogatyr" (short film, fiction) 2022 “U YEN” (short film, documentary)
The essence of any documentary is a unique character and his history. We were lucky, because we found eight such characters. What they do on stage is pure magic, that originates in traditional Mari religion. First time I came across the guys from U YEN was in 2021 when I stumbled on their educational and entertaining video about the types of Mari instruments and how fun it is to play them nowadays. Since then, I always kept an eye on them. I realized that we had a common goal of preserving and popularizing Mari culture through art. So, as soon as I felt I was ready to make my first documentary, I immediately contacted the band. Before that, I had only filmed fiction films. My latest short film was called “Not Ivan or How to Train a Hero”, and it was also devoted to the topic of preserving Mari culture, honoring the memory of your ancestors, and believing in your own strength. I have Mari blood running through my veins, I was born and raised here, and with my art I want to express gratitude to my small Motherland. The whole filming process was surrounded with mystery. On the very first day of filming, I got into a car incident: I went to buy supplies for the film crew and the band, and on my way back another car crashed into mine. In the scripted scene, which we were filming in Kolokudo Village, according to the script, the band’s van was supposed to crash through the gates. But, unfortunately, the gates decided not to wait for the crash and collapsed prematurely right on top of our precious cameraman Dmitry Novikov and his equally precious camera. But everything started going smoothly as soon as our executive producer Maksim Bryzgalov got a duck – a Finno-Ugric symbol of the universe, depicted on U YEN’s logo. The duck played its part in the film and is now living in the band leader’s home. I’m happy that I had the honor to introduce the world to these extraordinary musicians. I’m sure they have a great future, because they are an amazing eight who are playing vibrant ethno punk in Yoshkar-Ola and beyond. They are talented and flamboyant. They are very different but are all united by the common idea of preserving and popularizing the Mari culture through their art. I like that they’re not afraid of experimenting with the sound and in doing so, they are using traditional folk instruments such as shuvyr, eya-kovyzh, accordion, kusle, kong-kong, shyn, shyshpyk, shiyaltysh, etc.