TRF Korneyeva ENPRO

Genre: Docu-Fiction
Format: PAL / SECAM, DV-Cam, DV-Avi
Runtime: 25:08 min
Languages: RU (orig.), EN
Trailers: 1:30 (EN), 1:50 (Music), 4:20 (EN)

Awards: First prize at the XVIII International Festival of Niepokalanow (PL) 2003; Diploma at the International Festival of Christian TV-Radio-Broadcasting, Moscow 2002; Diploma World Catholic Association for Communication “SIGNIS”, Brussels 2003; Prize of the Union of Journalists at the International Film Festival “Stalker”, Moscow 2004

Topic: Vera Korneyeva managed to keep the fire of faith burning during the years of persecution. Vera was a member of a secret parish, and for several years she succeeded to hide Father Iyeraks (Bocharov) from the authorities. Sent to a lager and then ‘permanently exiled’, Vera managed to survive keeping hope alive despite everything.

Plot: After a short biographical introduction the memoires and an old magnetic tape with the voice of Vera Korneyeva lead throughout the film. Enriched with many anecdotes Vera tells us about her childhood, about spiritual experiences and her spiritual connection with Father Ieraks and other priests such as Fr. Aleksandr Men. She continues to tell about how they hid the priests before the Soviet authorities in their "Invisible Parish", about the arrest and dead of her fiancè, the war experiences, the imprisonment and criminal case, her and her friend's condemnation to a prison camp and the permanent exile in Northern Kasakstan. Vera finally returned home after Stalin's death in 1954. Short explaining notes help to connect the different parts of the registration of her voice.

Artistic Considerations: Rare original recordings, recovered from an old magnetic tape, allow us to let the late protagonist speak for herself and to present her life testimony to the spectator. As a very special artistic note the film uses besides precious historic photos and video material drawings which were made with a particular technique: drawn with coffee powder and illuminated from behind. The musical choice of pieces from the first half of the 20th century complete the very personal aspect of the movie.