In True Story ep. 29 producer and director Volia Chajkouskaya discusses her short film Common Language (2019) about a visit to her parents and asking them daring and tough questions.
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Volia's film Common Language was screened at Ji.hlava IDFF (Short Joy competition) and Northern Lights Nordic Baltic Film Festival. Volia Chajkousaya is a producer of such films as The Road Movie (dir. Dmitrii Kalashnikov, 2016), My Granny from Mars (dir. Vladimi Mihalkovich, 2018) and Pure Art (dir. Maksim Shved, 2019). Her upcoming project is part of the Ex Oriente Film workshop.
About the film
The director, who has always been viewed as the black sheep in her family, sets out to the Belarusian town of Vitebsk to talk with her parents about previous grievances and topics that were considered taboo. The effort to find a common language, which runs into stormy emotions and the inability to voice honest opinions, is captured through both personal moments and detailed shots of the protagonists’ faces. “I decided to visit my parents in Vitebsk so that I could talk with them about things I didn’t have the courage to speak about before, and to ask them some crucial questions.” V. Chajkouskaya
True Story - season 1:
Episode 01: A Loss of Something Ever Felt with Liis Nimik and Carlos E. Lesmes
Episode 02: Pure Art with Maksim Shved
Episode 03: Town of Glory with Dmitry Bogolyubov
Episode 04: Caught in the Net with Pavla Klimešová
Episode 05: Wolves at the Borders with Martin Páv
Episode 06: Her Mothers with Asia Dér and Sári Haragonics
Episode 07: Merry Christmas, Yiwu with Mladen Kovačević
Episode 08: An Ordinary Country with Tomasz Wolski
Episode 09: Acasa, My Home with Radu Ciorniciuc
Episode 10: Salt from Bonneville with Simon Mozgovyi
True Story - season 2:
Episode 11: Living Water with Pavel Borecký
Episode 12: Every Single Minute with Erika Hníková and Jiří Konečný
Episode 13: Reconstruction of Occupation with Jan Šikl and Alice Tabery
Episode 14: Once Upon a Time in Poland with Filip Remunda
Episode 15: Grief with Andrea Culková
Episode 16: Two Roads with Radovan Síbrt
Episode 17: The Good Death with Tomáš Krupa
Episode 18: A New Shift with Jindřich Andrš
Episode 19: Personal Life of a Hole with Ondřej Vavrečka
Episode 20: Peculiarity of Fisherman's Soul with Ivana Pauerová Miloševičová
True Story - season 3
Episode 21: Davis Simanis
Episode 22: Museum of the Revolution with Srdjan Keča and Vanja Jambrović
Episode 23: How I Became a Partisan with Vera Lacková
Episode 24: Anna Zamecka
Episode 25: Alina Gorlova
Episode 26: Veton Nurkollari
Episode 27: Holy Father with Andrei Dascalescu
Episode 28: In Praise of Nothing with Boris Mitić
Episode 29: Common Language with Volia Chajkouskaya
