Anna Biriulina

Film

Anna, a filmmaker of Tatar origin, calls upon a Tatar Shaman to help her get rid of a family curse. They are a striking example of how a traditional culture exists in digital capitalist society: while the Shaman performs rituals on Instagram every night, Anna is making a film about it. They meet far from Tatarstan, where neither of them lives, in a non-place where the Tatar culture takes the form of random theatre performances and collections of funny artifacts. Archive photographs of the perished Tatar people whose names are forgotten seem to be the most tangible link with the past. Is there such a thing as a curse, or is it just the flow of history? Are there shamans and filmmakers, or just personas? Are there even the Tatars, or just the echo from the past centuries? Meanwhile, deep underneath the superficial there is a sleepless power that roars and rumbles, the soul-eating Tatar monster called Ubir. The characters will haunt the haunting dream, and bring it out to conclude this story of personal growth.

Anna Biriulina

Anna Biriulina, a filmmaker, artist, and researcher of Russian-Tatar origin, was born and grew up in Tomsk, Siberia. She pursued studies in political science and documentary filmmaking at state universities in Saint-Petersburg. Fascinated by the fusion of documentary techniques with digital art, Anna continued her education at Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains. Here, she started a doctoral thesis exploring virtual reality as an artistic medium. Anna currently works and resides in Roubaix, France.

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