SHORT GRAND PRIX COMPETITION

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

BEST FRIENDS

Sweden/Finland, 2006, 58 min., Russian

Director: Jerzy Sladkowski
Producer: Antonio Russo Merenda
Script: Jerzy Sladkowski
Cinematography: Andrzej Szulkowski
Editing: Agnieszka Bojanowska
Music: Tuomas Kantelinen
Sound: Schamil Ismailov
Production company: Hysteria Film AB in association with Illume Oy
Print Source:
Antonio Russo Merenda
Hysteria Film AB
Falugatan 17
113 32 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel.: +46 8 31 54 35
Fax: +46 8 34 49 95
e-mail: hysteria@hysteriafilm.se
www.hysteriafilm.se


Best Friends

As the title implies, this delightful and tender film tells the story of the friendship between Olesia and Natasha, two energetic13-year-old girls who live in Krasnoyarsk in the heart of Siberia. The girls are classmates and boarders in a local school and spend their days goofing around, choreographing dances and bugging boys. They also rely on one another for emotional support as they deal with the lack of parental figures in their lives - the result of tragic accidents or abandonment. But when their school organizes a Fame Factory talent competition, pinning the dynamic duo against other girls in the school, the strong friendship between Olesia and Natasha is put to the test. The girls soon become an audience favorite thanks to their enthusiasm and charisma, but will their friendship survive as everything from work ethic to costumes becomes a point of contention?

Jerzy Sladkowski, was born in Radom, Poland in 1945. He graduated from the University of Torun in classical literature in 1971 as well as from the University of Warsaw in journalism with a concentration on photography, radio & TV. From 1972 to 1982, he worked as a reporter for Polish TV. He immigrated to Sweden in 1983. Since then he has worked as a freelance director and producer for Swedish TV and the Swedish Film Institute, making over award-winning forty documentaries. Recipient of numerous prizes including IDA Award and Prix Arte for the Best European Documentary for Swedish Vendetta. He co-works with TV stations in Scandinavia, and from 1993 with German ZDF and Arte.

Filmography (selected):

Best Friends (2006);
My American Family (2004);
Noble Virgins (2002);
Captured (2001);
Gawrilo’s Last Temptation (2000);
Swedish Tango (1999);
Vendetta (1995);
Wild Siberia (1993), miniseries;
Triangle of Death (1990);
The Conductor (1983).

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