Close contact

All his life, Ruslan has been ashamed of the fact that he is gypsy. He was teased at school because of his ethnicity.
When Ruslan got into sports and started winning, he grasped his victories as a chance to make it in life. It was the only thing he was good at. So he became a two-time world kickboxing champion.
In his new intention to make his professional boxing debut, his luck would turn away from him. The boxing world would not immediately accept him. Just as his classmates once did not immediately accept him. Events will unfold in such a way that, trying to win his place in the sport that is new to him, Ruslan will grow stronger, and more and more he will turn to his gypsy nature, because in professional boxing it is important to be different from the others. And on his debut fight he will publicly declare himself as a Gypsy.

  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Близкий контакт
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Russian Federation
  • Country of Filming:
    Russian Federation
  • Language:
    Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • The film has just finished and has not yet had time to go to festivals. At the stage of production, it took part in the "LetsDOC" film lab. And also was a participant of "LETSDOCPITCH" pitching within the industrial program of "Flahertiana" festival.
Director Biography

Victoria Olkhovskaya is a director, screenwriter, and teacher. I worked on television as a correspondent and author of projects. I went to the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts (now Russian State University of Theatre Arts) to study directing cinema and television, from which I graduated in 2015. Worked as an assistant director on the shooting of feature films for I.S. Kopylov ("Leningrad-46"), and also participated in an international documentary project with the Israeli documentary filmmaker A. Gentelev. In 2018 she was one of the selectors of the works of the competition of short scripts and applications for the film "About Love 3", launched by Anna Melikyan. In 2020 she took a course on drama and production in the film industry from Tigran Mutafyan, a graduate of St. Petersburg State Academic Theater and the New York Film Academy. Tigran Mutafyan has taken the course "Stage Director's Editing" and "Plotting Vector" under A.S. Kaminsky. I has taken part in scriptwriting workshops "SiberiaDoc" (2021), "LETSDOCLAB" (2022) and "Documentary Film Directing Lab" (2022) with my projects. Also I participated in the international training-pitching "Flahertiana-Forum" (2021) and "LETSDOCPITCH" (2022). I am the second teacher in the director's course of A.V. Melentiev at RGISI.

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Director Statement

Why the story is important: Sometimes we want something with all our heart, but something gets in the way, somewhere it doesn't work out...We can give up. But Ruslan doesn't stop and keeps going. This story, even though it's about an athlete, is about every person who has a dream in life.

Why the story is important to me: I would call importance to me a word - not reciprocity. It's like a feeling from somewhere in my childhood. When you open your arms and run to meet a person, but there is no reciprocation.
And those sticks in the wheels that life puts into Ruslan's life, who is going to his goal - it's like that very unreciprocity. Ruslan overcomes it.

What the story can touch the viewer with: loyalty to his values and ideals, despite defeats and failures

"...Strength does not appear without responsibility. Life's challenges require solutions. They bring growth and change. This is how strength is built up. Without taking responsibility and living experience, one does not build strength. And he remains a man without power...". N.G. Kasarina