Director’s Note
When I was 13 years old, my family was forced to leave our land, our country, and we immigrated to Israel. As we came the war started, and before learning the new language, we learned how to put a gaz mask on. Very fast I understood that I needed to forget about my homeland and to adopt a new land as Home, where even the writing was from the opposite side. My family and I even accepted the idea that my going to the army was something natural, but inside our hearts, nature was crying. Later I moved to France to study Cinema, and then again, another nature to adopt.
By chance, (even if I don't believe in chance), I went back to my homeland after 25 years, and I discovered that my Land never forgot me. Something incredible happened to me, I found my true self. OLMA DJON was born as a result of this reconciliation.
It tells the story of finding again Our Roots. We are as trees, and if we want our branches to grow upper in the sky and give us fruits, we must go deeper to the earth and take care of our roots.
The idea of roots and branches determined my casting, many actors were with their grand parents in the same frame.
BOLOT, the hero of my film, is doing an act. He is going to the other side of the fence, and finds himself in his "secret garden" frozen under the snow. There, he meets himself as a child, his ancestors, and finally his mother. Once filled with this Unconditional Love, he knows how to communicate with his daughter. To transmit her Love of MOTHER, Love of Mother-Land.
My film is about solutions and not only about the pain. I believe that OLMA DJON can heal everyone who watches it with an open heart.
I am a very happy director to have had this amazing chance to create together with those incredible Masters . Sharing this amazing process with every person in this movie was a generous gift of my earth. We were like pieces of a puzzle, in which everyone in the team gave a part of his heart that constitued LOVE APPLE.
The film is also about taking action in life. The solution is often close to us, we should only break free from the prison of our mind, behind the fence of our own yard. And if we get lost, not loose hope but go where everything began, to Mother Love, to find love inside our hearts in order to transmit it forward. And remember, Everything that you whant to be, you already Are!
CREW & CAST
See full cast and crew
Victoria Yakubova
Writer, Director, Producer
Herve Schneid
Producer, Editor
Ariel Assenova
Producer
Iskander Narymbetov
Cinematographer
Aleksandra Aronova
Art Direction and Costume Design
Abbas Bakhtiari
Music Composer
Shigeru Umebayashi
Music Composer
Pavel Doreuli
Sound Designer
Vincent Arnardi
Re-recording Mixer
Alain Carsoux
Special Effects Supervisor
Elie Akoka
Color Timer
Gasan Babayev
Production Manager
Gulshat Begen
First Assistant Director and Executive Producer
Alexander Akoka
Post Production Director
Benoit Toulemonde
Post Production Director
Genady Grafeev
Locations Director and Property Master
Jessica Arnardi
Music Clearance
Aleksandra Tsatsina
Make Up and Hair Master
Vlad Zazherilo
Gaffer
Starring
Aziz Beyshenaliev
BOLOT
Natasha Mashkevich
SARA
Aysha Berikkizy
SHOLPAN
Saltanat Tashimova
CHAMANE
Azat Nurtayev
FATHER Young
Azhar Ibraeva
MOTHER Young
Seytek Bolot Beyshenaliev
BOLOT Teenager
Kulyayim Kazhmaganbetova
MOTHER
Amirkhan Assenov
BOLOT Child
