Through the remarkable and highly personal story of lifelong friends, ‘Three Comrades’ depicts the downfall of the Soviet Union and the devastating impact of Chechnya’s struggle for independence and protracted war upon the lives of its innocent citizens. Islam, Ramzan, and Ruslan grew up in the Chechen capital of Grozny and were always together. They loved to listen to Western rock music as a protest to the Soviet regime; they talked about movies and girls and dreamed of the future. Then in 1994, war broke out, and their lives changed forever. Ramzan became a cameraman for local TV and tirelessly documented the war. Filmmaker Masja Novikova incorporates horrifying battle footage captured by Ramzan to portray the plight of common people, who have nothing to do with politics or affairs of state but are the war’s greatest victims.
Masja Novikova
Masja Novikova was born in Moscow in 1956. She studied pedagogy at the Moscow University. Immediately before the Fall of Berlin Wall, she came to Netherlands and has been living in Amsterdam since. She started working for Dutch television as a producer. At the same time, she studied camera, script-writing and directing. She started filming her own life in 2000 and working as a cinematographer on a few documentaries. Her first film is Fallen Angel (2005). On the last year’s ZagrebDox, we saw her film Drie Kameraden/Three Friends.
General sponsor
Drie Kameraden
Netherlands
2006, 99', color/bw, video
Directed by:
Masja Novikova
Screenplay by:
Masja Novikova
Cinematography:
Ramzan Mezhidov, Vladas Naudzius, Masja Novikova
Edited by:
Srdjan Fink
Music:
Jillis Molenaar
Producer:
Ymke Kreiken
Produced by:
VPRO
