SNAKE

A bitter-sweet story about an unusual friendship between a nine year old daredevil Mario and an eccentric gay man Borche, challenged by the prejudices and hatred of the parents in a remote Macedonian small town.

  • Andrey Volkashin
    Director
  • Andrey Volkashin
    Writer
  • Elena Stanisheva
    Producer
  • Vedran Delidzakov
    Key Cast
    "Mario"
  • Marijan Najdovski
    Key Cast
    "Borce"
  • Gabriela Petrushevska
    Key Cast
    "Mother"
  • Borche Nachev
    Key Cast
    "Father"
  • Vaska Angelova
    Key Cast
    "Sister"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 5, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    41,600 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
  • Country of Filming:
    Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
  • Language:
    Macedonian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival
    Miami
    United States
    August 23, 2020
    World Premiere
  • Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival
    Cardiff
    United Kingdom
    European
  • MEZIPATRA Queer Film Festival
    Prague
    Czech Republic
    Czech
  • Film Front International Short Film Festival
    Novi Sad
    Serbia
    Serbian
    Best Film in the region
  • BREST European Short Film Festival
    Brest
    France
  • Cheries-Cheris Festival du film LGBTQ de Paris
    Paris
    France
  • FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL SIGNOS DA NOITE
    Paris
    France
  • TLV FEST
    Tel Aviv
    Israel
  • MERLINKA Queer Film Festival
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    ERA Award - Best Film
Director Biography - Andrey Volkashin

Andrey Volkashin is a Macedonian screenwriter, director, and published author. His award-winning short films have played in major festivals around the world (Iris Prize, Brussels, Huesca, In The Palace, Drama, Tirana, Sofia, Sarajevo, Image+Nation). His latest short film “Snake”, opened at the 35th Brest ESFF in November 2020, and won the best short film competition at the 36th LOVERS FF, among many other awards and nominations. Andrey developed his first feature film project at Script Lab 2019 at the Torino Film Lab and is currently developing his TV series project at the Serial-Eyes program in Berlin.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The short film „SNAKE“ is a love letter to my childhood, and an attempt to reflect on how my earliest understanding of what is right and wrong was created. One day I heard the word „faggot“ and I asked my parents what it meant. Their answer was „god forbid“, as if I had asked what a „brain cancer“ or a „plane crash“ is. When we discovred my mom’s dresses in our grandma’s basement, well it became only natural for us – all boys, to try them on. It soon became very clear that we were not suppose to do that, even though, why exactly - was never realy clarified. There was a friendly man in our neighbourhood, who liked to tell me fables of mice and snakes. My dad told me that I must avoid this guy at any cost. Years later I discovered that he was gay.
As a child, I never understood how could people find a house mouse so terrifying. To me it seemed like the cutest little creature that for some reason everybody hated and feared. I also found toads, lizards and snakes to be beautiful too. And I always felt like I want to protect the rejected, the feared, the missunderstood, despite what everybody else was trying to tell me.