Something Better to Come
DIRECTOR: Hanna Polak COUNTRIES: Denmark, Poland YEAR: 2014 LANGUAGE(S): Russian, English SUBTITLES: English RUNNING TIME: 110 min
SECTION: International Forum 2015, Open Eyes 2015
SYNOPSIS
What for many is standard is remote for Yula – an ordinary life. She lives with her mother on one of the biggest garbage dumps in Europe with a view of Moscow – where some of the richest people in the world live. Her only possession is the hope for a better future.
Yula is a girl like any other: She dyes her hair, experiments with alcohol and cigarettes and experiences first love. However, she does not live in a nice home but with her mother and other outcasts of society on one of the biggest garbage dumps in Europe, a place where society discards everything that it no longer needs, 20 kilometers from Moscow. Despite the adverse conditions, Yula is a happy teenager who never gives up her hope for a better future.
Hanna Polak accompanied her protagonist through crises and setbacks for 14 years until the long hoped-for end materialized. This is a hymn to human dignity and the imperishable longing for personal happiness, sung with caution and without any social romanticism.
HANNA POLAK
Hanna Polak studied drama in Poland before she moved to the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. She received lots of awards including an Oscar nomination for her film THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY (2004). In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Polak is tirelessly committed to humanitarian issues. With SOMETHING BETTER TO COME she won the International Competition at DOK.fest Munich and numerous other awards.
FILMOGRAPHY
Al – Tribute to Albert Maysles (2004), The Children of Leningradsky (2005), Faces of Homelessness (2010), Warsaw Battle 1920 in 3D (2010), Something Better to Come (2015)
PRODUCER: Sigrid Dyekjær CAMERA: Hanna Polak EDITORS: Hanna Polak, Marcin Kot Bastkowski
PRODUCTION: Danish Documentary Production, Hanna Polak Films WORLD SALES: Jan Rofekamp, FILMS TRANSIT