Press releases

The 2017 ScriptTeast project for scriptwriters from Eastern and Central Europe featured a Belarusian entry for the first time. The initial stages of the ScriptTeast competition were held in Poland and Germany, during the Berlin International Film Festival. The project wrapped up in Cannes. The main prize went to “Sorry, Poland” by Kuba Czekaj (Poland). The Belarusian project “Solomon’s Mountain” by Sergei Kolosovsky and Nikolai Lavreniuk got the 2017 Scripteast Special Mention.

The script “Solomon’s Mountain” tells a story about an escaped prisoner and a lonely elderly woman who meet in the Chernobyl zone in 1996.

The Advisory Board commented on the work by the Belarusian scriptwriters in the following way: “The jury were enchanted by the freshness and originality of the narrative in this quirky drama, in which a decidedly odd couple form a strange but compelling relationship in a deserted and unforgiving environment. The story deals with matters of faith, family, survival, and companionship, but most of all, it is about how two very different people can find a connection that empowers and liberates them both. ”

The movie will be directed by Sergei Kolosovsky, a graduate of Warsaw Film School who has already authored several shorts. “The work on this movie has been one of the greatest adventures of my life. The script is about people who overcome their fears and learn to trust each other, which is relevant today as never before. The Chernobyl area is a space of an aching, beaten and twisted soul. To survive a tragedy, one needs repentance, humility, and acceptance. The character’s story is an odyssey inside one’s self, figuratively speaking, through death and resurrection,” he noted.

The film “Solomon’s Mountain” is planned to be co-produced with other countries. The Belarusian Illusion Film Company will participate in its production, and talks are underway with other private studios.

Among the ScriptTeast winners of the previous years are Benedek Fliegauf “Womb”, Stephan Komandarev’s “The Judgment”, Zuzana Liova’s “The House”, and other projects, many of which hold prizes of international festivals.