HI, MOM

World premiere:

San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023, New Directors Section

Directed by: Ilia Malakhova

Written by: Ilia Malakhova

DOP: Denis Klebleev, Maria Falileeva

Produced by: Forest Film, All Media

Cast: Darya Savelyeva, Aglaya Tarasova, Anfisa Kaftanova

Art Director: Olesya Vavilova, Julia Ulrich

Runtime: 114 minutes

Country: Russia

Year: 2023

SYNOPSIS

Vera, a 34 year old beautiful and smart single woman, works in an airport call center and lives with her younger sister and her 2 nieces. A few years ago Vera's mother went missing. Vera needs to accept that their mother is dead and to go on with administrative issues regarding their inheritance . But accepting that her mother is not coming back seems as difficult for Vera as assuming her own life as an adult.

Ilia Malakhova, the director

Ilia Malakhova (St. Petersburg, Russia. 1973) studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, where she was accepted for the film directing workshop led by Mikhail Khuciev, from which she graduated in 1997. As a screenwriter she has penned the films by Bakur Bakuradze Shultes (2008), premiered at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes, Okhotnik / The Hunter (2011), shown at Un Certain Regard, and Brat Deyan / Brother Deian (2015), which competed at Locarno. She also edited the latter two. In 2021 she moved behind the camera to direct the short film Domino. She has been teaching at the Moscow International Film School since 2018. Hi, Mom is her debut feature.